A Bifurcation Diagram for Hahn and Solow

Figure 1: Bifurcation Diagram for Hahn and Solow, Example 1, Generalized

I have been writing a draft paper, "A Neoclassical Model of Pension Capitalism in which r > g". In my latest iteration, I have developed the bifurcation diagram shown above. This is a generalization for the overlapping generations model, in which the number of households can grow, but specialized to Hahn and Solow's Example 1. Example 1 specifies the form of the utility function.

One can define dynamic equilibrium paths for the model. And given the values of certain parameters, one can locate a steady state in a certain range of parameters. Always being happy to examine a model, whether it can or cannot ever be instantiated in an actually existing economy, I have identified types of steady states and their stability in certain parameter ranges. I was able to establish analytically the boundary between steady Portfolio Indifferent and Liquidity Constrained States. I located the curved dashed and solid lines towards the south east of the diagram through a mixture of analysis and numeric experimentation. This is also true for my identification of types of stability (saddle-point, locally stable, locally unstable).

I do not fully understand the topological variation in flows for the bifurcations that I have identified. I think I understand the bifurcation, shown by the dashed line, in which a steady Liquidity Constrained State loses stability. This bifurcation most likely results from the steady state ejecting a stable or absorbing an unstable two-period business cycle. The former case is analogous to the logistic equation for a parameter a of 3. I can understand the bifurcation in which the steady state disappears in terms of the diagram in this post. But I find it difficult to understand how dynamic equilibrium paths differ across this bifurcation. And I have not previously gone into the details of the analysis of how two dynamic systems - in this case, for Portfolio Indifferent and Liquidity Constrained States are patched together across a bifurcation. But the linked paper illustrates what I have so far.

More complete details are provided in the linked paper. I provide more details than anybody can want in appendices so as to be able to step through the model myself, if I look at this stuff later.

Reference

• Hahn, Frank and Robert Solow (1995). A Critical Essay on Modern Economic Theory, MIT Press