Bio

Bio

I am a political economist and doctoral candidate at UMass Amherst, researching the geographically uneven development of global capitalism from a comparative-relational approach in historical perspective. My work bridges classical political economy and contemporary state theory, with special focus on Latin America in the shadow of U.S. imperialism. I build datasets, formal models, and digital archives—not just to understand history, but to contribute to transforming the present.

Distributive Cycles, Financial Fragility, and Wealth Inequality in a Goodwin-Minsky Model

Published in Working Paper, 2026

Abstract: This paper develops a stepped modeling sequence to clarify how endogenous distributive and financial cycles can generate persistent pressure toward asset inequality, even when macro-financial dynamics remain bounded. Starting from the canonical Goodwin growth-cycle model, it introduces a Goodwin-Minsky extension with debt and a bounded nonlinear investment function, yielding a three-dimensional system whose local dynamics may converge, sustain oscillations, or become unstable. It then adds a finance-augmented mechanism that creates an outside option and a profitability-dependent portfolio wedge, preserving the Hopf-based regime classification while reinterpreting it in terms of financial pressure and asset-income claims. The result is an analytical identification device linking macro-financial regimes to asset-inequality pressure prior to a full stock-flow consistent wealth-accumulation sector.

Key contributions:

  • Extends the Goodwin model with debt and bounded investment to map macro-financial regimes.
  • Introduces a finance-augmented mechanism that links regime boundaries to asset-inequality pressure.
  • Establishes a Hopf-based identification device ahead of a full stock-flow consistent wealth sector.

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Recommended citation: Polanco, Diego. (2026). "Distributive Cycles, Financial Fragility, and Wealth Inequality in a Goodwin-Minsky Model." Working Paper.
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