Transitions to Chaos with Increasing System Complexity: The Case of Regional Industrial Systems

In this paper are examined the onset and character of chaotic behaviour in a class of models representing a spatially distributed economic system characterized by economies and diseconomies both of scale and agglomeration; particular attention is paid to the role of complexity. Two major results emerge: (1) there is an inverse relationship between system complexity and the response rate, r, at which chaotic behaviour appears; and (2) with increasing complexity there is a blurring of the point at which chaotic behaviour appears. Of the two main characteristics of such behaviour, equifinality disappears at a lower value of r than does periodicity.