English

Role of volatility mixing in wealth condensation transition

Statistical Mechanics 2026-04-17 v2 Physics and Society

Abstract

We study the role of heterogeneous volatility in a networked wealth dynamics model and its impact on the wealth condensation transition. Extending the Bouchaud--M{\'e}zard framework, we introduce binary volatility in networks and investigate how its configuration affects the effective power-law tail exponent of the wealth distribution. Using a stochastic block model, we control the mixing between volatility groups and show that the effective exponent is governed not only by the global parameter Λ=2J/β2\Lambda=2J/\beta^2 but also by the volatility configuration in the network. We find that local interactions between nodes with different volatility induce a neutralization of group-wise exponents, which lowers the aggregate tail exponent and can drive a condensation transition across γc=2\gamma_{\rm c}=2. Our results identify volatility mixing as another control mechanism for wealth condensation and highlight the importance of noise heterogeneity in nonequilibrium systems on networks.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.13885,
  title  = {Role of volatility mixing in wealth condensation transition},
  author = {Jaeseok Hur and Meesoon Ha and Hawoong Jeong},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.13885},
  year   = {2026}
}