Abstract

JUAN ASENJO, Óscar de  and  GONZALEZ CALVET, Josep. Financial instability and cycles from a model "prey-predator". Inv. Econ [online]. 2005, vol.64, n.251, pp.53-84. ISSN 0185-1667.

This paper analyzes the interaction between the real sector of the economy (witnessed by the rate of growth) and the financial sector (witnessed by the rate of interest). We apply the prey-predator model proposed in 1926 by the natural scientists Lotka and Volterra, and applied to Economics for the first time by Goodwin in 1967. Contrary to conventional models of economic cycles, whose starting point usually is an exogenous shock on the real sector of the economy, our attention will focus on the causes of financial instability. We shall also analyze the transmission mechanisms towards the real sector and the circumstances that bound cycles between certain limits, as we can observe in real life. Credit restrictions imposed by banks, turn out to be a key factor.