SMòâA – Mathematics for Economics
Fall òýÔ
Asst. Prof. Nelson Uhan
Lesson ÔÀ.
e Cobweb Model
ý Warm up
Example Ô.
Solve the dierence equation
y
t
+
Ô
+
ç
y
t
=
¥
. Is
y
t
oscillatory or nonoscillatory? Is
y
t
convergent
or divergent?
Ô Overview
●
Market with single product
●
Supply in period
t
is decided
in
pe
riod
t
−
Ô and so is based on the price in period
t
−
Ô
○
e.g. agricultural production: planting must occur a long time before harvesting and selling
●
How does the price of the product change over time?
ò
e model
●
Variables:
P
t
=
unit price at period
t
Q
dt
=
quantity demanded at period
t
Q
st
=
quantity supplied at period
t
●
Parameters:
α
,
β
,
γ
,
δ
>
ý
●
Equations:
Q
dt
=
Q
st
Q
dt
=
α
−
β
P
t
Q
st
=
−
γ
+
δ
P
t
−
Ô
Ô
ç Solving and analyzing the model
●
Substituting the last two equations into the rst, we can reduce the model to:
●
Let’s rewrite this dierence equation by shiing the time subscripts:
●
Note that in this case:
●
We can solve for
P
t
, where
P
ý
represents the initial price:
●
We can interpret
̄
P
=
α
+
γ
β
+
δ
as the intertemporal equilbrium price of the model, and write
P
t
as:
●
P
t
is convergent when
●
P
t
is oscillatory when
ò