Optimal Cycles and Chaos: A Survey

Abstract

This paper surveys the literature on cyclical and chaotic equilibrium paths in deterministic optimal growth models with infinitely lived agents. We focus on discrete time models but also briefly mention results for continuous time models. We start by reviewing those results that have been proved for optimal growth models in reduced form. Then we discuss results for two-sector optimal growth models in primitive form. Finally, we summarize a few results that have been obtained for other variants of the model, including models with recursive preferences and models with heterogeneous agents.