For this special issue, the article aims at discussing a few econophysics problems studied so far rather successfully. The following "applications" in micro-econo-physics are considered : (i) financial crashes; it is emphasized that one can distinguish between endogenous and exogenous causes;...

A microscopic approach to macroeconomic features is intended. A model for macroeconomic behavior under heterogeneous spatial economic conditions is reviewed. A birth–death lattice gas model taking into account the influence of an economic environment on the fitness and concentration evolution...

Recent daily data of the Southern Oscillation Index have been analyzed. The power spectrum indicates major intrinsic geophysical short periods. We find interesting “high frequency” oscillations at 24, 27, 37, 76, 100 and 365 days. In particular the 24 days peaks may correspond to the...

Ormerod and Mounfield [P. Ormerod, C. Mounfield, Power law distribution of duration and magnitude of recessions in capitalist economies: Breakdown of scaling, Physica A 293 (2001) 573] and Ausloos et al. [M. Ausloos, J. Mikiewicz, M. Sanglier, The durations of recession and prosperity: Does...

The time series of successive closed- and open-states durations determined for a voltage-dependent big conductance locust potassium channel (BK channel) have been analyzed. The problem of correlation between the states have been discussed by means of the autocorrelation function, Hurst and...

A model for economic behavior, under heterogeneous spatial economic conditions is developed. The role of selection pressure in a Bak–Sneppen-like dynamics with entity diffusion on a lattice is studied by Monte-Carlo simulation taking into account business rule(s), like enterprise–enterprise...

An instantaneous time series distance is defined through the equal time correlation coefficient. The idea is applied to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) yearly increments of 21 rich countries between 1950 and 2005 in order to test the process of economic globalisation. Some data discussion is...

A simulation model of a population having internal (genetic) structure is presented. The population is subject to selection pressure coming from the environment which is the same in the whole system but changes in time. Reproduction has a sexual character with recombination and mutation. Two...

A model for ideological struggles is formulated. The underlying set is a closed one, like a country but in which the population size is variable in time. The dynamics of the struggle is described by model equations of Verhulst–Lotka–Volterra kind. Several “ideologies” compete to increase...

The economy globalization measure problem is discussed. Four macroeconomic indices of twenty among the “richest” countries are examined. Four types of “distances” are calculated. Two types of networks are next constructed for each distance measure definition. It is shown that the...