SFeDu
of.211, Gorgoko St., 88 
Rostov-on-Don
Russia
344002
+7 (863) 250-59-54
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
te@sfedu.ru

TERRA ECONOMICUS

Reception of Mandelbrot and his economic ideas in Russia


TERRA ECONOMICUS, , Vol. 22 (no. 2),

In this article, I analyze the Russian-language academic literature mentioning and discussing Benoit Mandelbrot’s economic ideas. The main findings are that Mandelbrot’s economic ideas about the fractal nature of markets have a limited popularity among Russian-speaking scholars. The peak was reached in the middle of the 2010s, and now every year we see a smaller number of publications mentioning him. He stays more recognized in the field of mathematics and geometry, compared to economics. However, in the works of Russian-speaking scholars mentioning Mandelbrot we can see that his ideas were met with quite a positive attitude. His novelty and originality are recognized. The reception of fractal theory in economics varies from being the only working strategy for building an adequate model of the market and predicting financial collapses to not having many benefits in comparison to the classical probabilistic theory. Nevertheless, evidence shows that markets have fractal (not random) nature, and new works support that idea. Some scholars regret the undeserved unpopularity of fractal theory, while others explain it by its incompleteness and complexity, which limits the wide practical usage of Mandelbrot’s ideas. Despite all limitations, the fractal theory definitely has its own place in economics and finance. Probably the main significance of Mandelbrot’s theory is not in its practical tools, but in the general philosophic idea.
Citation: Negina Y. (2024). Reception of Mandelbrot and his economic ideas in Russia. Terra Economicus 22(2), 114–123. DOI: 10.18522/2073-6606-2024-22-2-114-123


Keywords: Mandelbrot; fractal theory; fractal; economics; finance

JEL codes: B00, B17, B31, B59

References:
  • Almazov, A. (2009). Fractal Theory of the Forex Market. St. Petersburg: Admiral Markets Publ. (in Russian).
  • Astrakhantseva, I. (2011). Methodology of Nonlinear Dynamic Management of the Company’s Value. Ivanovo: Ivanovo State Power Engineering University Publ. (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/qusmwl
  • Efimova, D., Nikulin, A. (2013). The role of fractals in the economy. International Scientific Research Journal 7(38), 87–91 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/uyedzx
  • Egorenkov, N., Drozd, S., Starodubtsev, I., Starodubtseva, M. (2009). Problems of developing and teaching financial and economic statistics. Gomel: State Technical University of Gomel (in Russian).  https://elib.gstu.by/handle/220612/12101
  • Glazunova, K. (2019). Fractals and their application in economics. Actual Problems of Modern Science: The View of the Young, 610–616 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/kvhbem
  • Hudson, R. (2004). Prelude. Introducing a maverick in science. In: Mandelbrot, B. (2004). The Misbehavior of Markets. New York: Basic Books, pp. 18–37.
  • Lagun, A. (2015). Fractals in economics. Education and Science Without Borders: Social and Humanitarian Sciences (2), 307–309 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/uoacsd
  • Lavrikova, Yu., Buchinskaia, O., Myslyakova, Yu. (2023). Chaos theory: Expanding the boundaries of economic research. AlterEconomics 20(1), 79–109 (in Russian). DOI: 10.31063/AlterEconomics/2023.20-1.5
  • Mandelbrot, B. (1963). New methods in statistical economics. Journal of Political Economy 71(5), 421–440. DOI: 10.1086/258792
  • Mandelbrot, B. (1966). Forecasts of future prices, unbiased markets, and “martingale” models. The Journal of Business 39(1), 242–255. DOI: 10.1086/294850
  • Mandelbrot, B., Taylor, H. (1967). On the distribution of stock price differences. Operations Research 15(6), 1057–1062. DOI: 10.1287/opre.15.6.1057
  • Mandelbrot, B. (1983). The Fractal Geometry of Nature. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
  • Mandelbrot, B. (1997). Fractals and Scaling in Finance: Discontinuity, Concentration, Risk. New York: Springer.
  • Mandelbrot, B. (1999). A multifractal walk down Wall Street. Scientific American 280(2), 70–73. DOI: 10.1038/scientificamerican0299-70
  • Mandelbrot, B., Hudson, R. (2004). The Misbehavior of Markets. New York: Basic Books.
  • Muller, N. (2009). Forecasting the risk of occupational traumatism by means of wavelet and fractal analysis. Vestnik of Samara State University (2), 146–154 (in Russian).  https://elibrary.ru/pgcmld
  • Nekrasova, I. (2015). Hurst indicator as a measure of fractal structure and long-term memory of financial markets. International Scientific Research Journal 7-3(38), 87–91 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/ucqpxd
  • Panchelyuga, V. (2010). Benoit Mandelbrot: The way to fractal geometry of nature. Hypercomplex Numbers in Geometry and Physics 7(14-2), 172–191 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/onszgd
  • Rosenberg, G., Chuprunov, E., Gelashvili, D., Iudin, D. (2011). “Nature’s geometry has a fractal face” (In memory of Benoit Mandelbrot). Vestnik of Lobachevsky University of Nizhni Novgorod (1), 411–417 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/onszgd
  • Sandryukova, E., Dubinina, E. (2017). Application of elements of fractal theory in the study of economic processes. Bulletin of Economic Security (4), 349–352 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/ovkrfh
  • Shlyk, V. (2005). He left a scratch on the surface of everything: For Benoit Mandelbrot’s 80th anniversary. Proceedings of the Chelyabinsk Scientific Center of the Ural Branch RAS (3), 116–132 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/hrukmx
  • Taylor, J. (2020). Black Death, “Industrial Revolution” and Paper Age collapse. Terra Economicus 18(3), 22–48. DOI: 10.18522/2073-6606-2020-18-3-6-17
  • Tutubalin, V. (2001). Book review: Mandelbrot B.B., Ageal M. “Fractals and Scaling in Finance. Discontinuity, Concentration, Risk”. Theory Probab. Appl. 46(1), 198–204 (in Russian). DOI: 10.4213/tvp4040
  • Zhmurko, D., Osipov, A. (2018). Forecasting indicators of the sugar industry development using fractal analysis methods. Bulletin of Udmurt University. Economics and Law Series 28(2), 185–193 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/lvbfmt
  • Zinenko, A. (2012). R/S stock market analysis. Business Informatics (3), 24–30 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/peoskn
  • Zinenko, A. (2015). Pareto’s law on the stock market. Finance and Credit 21(38), 11–19 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/umrkev
  • Zinenko, A., Semenov, S. (2013). Modern theories of financial investments. Finance and Credit 19(25), 48–53 (in Russian).  https://www.elibrary.ru/qcmykf
Publisher: Southern Federal University
Founder: Southern Federal University
ISSN: 2073-6606