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G. Feichtinger:
"Optimal Control of 'Deviant' Behavior";
Vortrag: University of South Australia, Melbourne (eingeladen); 09.09.2008.

A survey on applications of optimal control models and nonlinear dynamical systems in the economics of 'deviant' behavior is given particularly in illicit drug epidemics, corruption, and terrorism. The initiation of criminal behavior (as well as of other 'deviations') is inherently influenced by social interactions implying that individual propensities depend on the size and the structure of reference groups. A crucial consequence of this paradigm are intrinsic nonlinearities governing the dynamics of the processes. The purpose of the presentation is to deliver an optimal control approach including such spillover or external effects.
An essential feature of nonlinear optimal control models in the existence of multiple long-run equilibria and (Skiba-) thresholds separating their basics attraction. This sensitivity on initial conditions (history-dependence) is illustrated by the US cocaine epidemic as well as in a production/inventory example.