On the complexity of economic dynamics: An approach through topological entropy

In this paper we compute topological entropy with prescribed accuracy for different economic models, showing the existence of a topologically chaotic regime for them. In order to make the paper self-contained, a general overview on the topological entropy of continuous interval maps is given. More precisely, we focus on piecewise monotone maps which often appear as dynamical models in economy, but also in population growth and physics. Our main aim is to show that when topological entropy can be approximated up to a given error, it is a useful tool which helps to analyze the chaotic dynamics in one dimensional models.