Revising price coordination in the classical and neoclassical economics based on elementary cellular automata

The coordination of prices in economics is one of the most complex phenomena.

In particular, the classical and neoclassical approaches related to the economic theory provide some insights into such a complex coordination based on different formulations.

However, these formulations have not been successful for explaining simple mechanisms to understand and predict a set of prices that theoretically clears all markets.

Consequently, elementary cellular automata can contribute to clarify such a coordination problem by using simple computational rules to describe the theoretical bases of the classical and neoclassical economics.

Therefore, we propose to use this type of cellular automata for explaining different escenarios of price coordination in which simple rules of price interactions generate stable and unstable patterns of coordination.

We used an explorative data analysis based on the Shannon entropy for computing the uncertainty related to such generated patterns of coordination, and a Monte Carlo simulation approximation based on a Spearman correlation for evaluating the statistical significance of such price coordination.

Findings suggested that the classical economics provides a consistent approach for understanding the coordination of prices because it emphasizes human interactions based on logical choices related to an objective data.

On the other hand, the neoclassical approach does not propose any type of mechanism for describing the price coordination.

The neoclassical individual is just a spectator and receiver of the unpredictable and supposed event of price coordination.

As a result, by modeling the economic theory based on computational concepts, we reveal facts and believes behind the classical and neoclassical economics.