Destabilizing the assumption of smooth markets: understand how price and quantity adjustments can sustain cycles and disequilibrium.
This non-fiction study examines how real firms manage stocks like inventories and backlogs, and how those stock dynamics can keep markets away from simple, knee-jerk equilibrium. It argues that traditional equilibrium analysis may miss the persistent fluctuations seen in production and pricing when delays and stock‑level decisions are included. The book blends theoretical modeling with computer simulations to illustrate how price feedbacks and stock management shape business cycles.
- How inventories and backlogs influence production decisions and the path toward or away from balance
- Why purely price- or quantity-driven models can miss sustained oscillations in the real world
- How feedbacks between price, delivery delay, and order rates can destabilize output and profits
- What this means for interpreting economic policy and for teaching dynamic analysis in economics
Ideal for readers of economics, policy makers, and students seeking a clearer picture of how stock variables affect market dynamics.