Compositional Growth Models
Abstract
We review models of compositional growth, which were introduced to explain the growth statistics of various quantities ranging from firm sizes to GDP. In these models, entities are decomposed into units that grow independently. Thus, the growth rate of the entity is the addition of the growth rates of the composing units, with possibly heterogeneous weights. We review such models and show that they can be understood through a unifying theoretical framework, explaining the resulting growth rate distributions using mixtures of Gaussians.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Complex Systems and Dynamics
Complex Systems and Time Series Analysis
Economic Growth and Productivity
Publication details
- Journal / source
- SFI Press eBooks
- Pages
- 314–335
- Publication date
- 11 February 2026
- Language
- EN
- Document type
- Book chapter