Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/22055 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
Economics Working Paper No. 2008-10
Publisher: 
Kiel University, Department of Economics, Kiel
Abstract: 
We argue that the complex interactions of competitive heterogeneous firms lead to a statistical equilibrium distribution of firms? profit rates, which turns out to be an exponential power (or Subbotin) distribution. Moreover, we construct a diffusion process that has the Subbotin distribution as its stationary probability density, leading to a phenomenologically inspired interpretation of variations in the shape parameter of the statistical equilibrium distribution. Our main finding is that firms? idiosyncratic efforts and the tendency for competition to equalize profit rates are two sides of the same coin.
Subjects: 
Statistical equilibrium
maximum entropy principle
diffusion process
stochastic differential equation
competition
profit rate
JEL: 
D21
C16
E10
L10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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