On the interplay between fluctuations and efficiency in a model economy with heterogeneous adaptive consumers

Abstract

We discuss the stationary states of a model economy in which $N$ heterogeneous adaptive consumers purchase commodity bundles repeatedly from $P$ sellers. The system undergoes a transition from an inefficient to an efficient state as the number of consumers increases. In the latter phase, however, price fluctuations may be much larger than in the inefficient regime. Results from dynamical mean-field theory obtained for $N\to\infty$ compare fairly well with computer simulations.