Nonlinear Evolution of Spatial Economic Systems
Is our world more dynamic than it used to be in the past? Have phenomena in the social science field become unpredictable? Are chaotic events nowadays occurring more frequently than in the past? Such questions are often raised in popular debates on nonlin
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Nonlinear Evolution of Spatial Economic Systems With 75 Figures
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg New York London Paris Tokyo Hong Kong Barcelona Budapest
Prof. Dr. PETER NUKAMP Free University Department of Economics De Boelelaan 1105 1081 HV Amsterdam The Netherlands Prof. Dr. AURA REGGIANI University of Bologna Department of Economics Piazza Scaravilli, 2 40126 Bologna Italy
ISBN-13:978-3-642-78465-1 e-ISBN -13: 978-3-642-78463-7 DOl: 10.1007/978-3-642-78463-7 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in other ways, and storage in data banks. Duplication of this publication or parts thereofis only permitted under the provisions of the German Copyright Law of September9, 1965, in its version ofJune 24,1985, and a copyright fee must always be paid. Violations fall under the prosecution act of the German Copyright Law.
© Springer,Verlag Berlin· Heidelberg 1993 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1993 The use of registered names, trademarks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. 4217130-543210- Printed on acid· free paper
Dedication
To all our descendants who believe that nonlinear evolution contributes to the beauty of our world.
PREFACE
Is our world more dynamic than it used to be in the past? Have phenomena in the social science field become unpredictable? Are chaotic events nowadays occurring more frequently than in the past? Such questions are often raised in popular debates on nonlinear evolution and self-organizing systems. At the same time, many scientists are also raising various intruiging methodological issues. Is it possible to separate deterministic chaos from random disturbances if their trajectories are (almost) similar? Is prediction still possible in a world of chaos (Poincare)? Is it possible to distinguish specification errors from measurement errors in a nonlinear dynamic model? Is evolution a random process? The list of such questions can easily be extended with dozens of others. But despite the myriad of questions on problems of nonlinear evolution, one common trait is evident: in both the natural and the social sciences we are still groping in the dark in areas which are
par excellence promising hunting grounds for exploratory and exploratory research, viz. structural grounds in an uncertain nonlinear world. The present book aims at offering a collection of refreshing contributions to the above research issues by focusing attention, in particular on nonlinear dynamic evolution in space at the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study (NIAS) in Wassenaar, the Netherlands. The Institute has to be thanked for its hospitality and support, reflected inter
alia in a workshop at which several of the papers included in
