Capital death in the world market

Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2014 Mar;89(3):032805. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevE.89.032805. Epub 2014 Mar 13.

Abstract

We study the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita together with the market capitalization (MCAP) per capita as two indicators of the effect of globalization. We find that g, the GDP per capita, as a function of m, the MCAP per capita, follows a power law with average exponent close to 1/3. In addition, the Zipf ranking approach confirms that the m for countries with initially lower values of m tends to grow more rapidly than for countries with initially larger values of m. If the trends over the past 20 years continue to hold in the future, then the Zipf ranking approach leads to the prediction that in about 50 years, all countries participating in globalization will have comparable values of their MCAP per capita. We call this economic state "capital death," in analogy to the physics state of "heat death" predicted by thermodynamic arguments.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.