Traveling waves for a nonlocal KPP equation and mean-field game models of knowledge diffusion (Q2693530)

In this paper, the authors investigated a mean-field game model proposed by economists \textit{R. E. Lucas jun.} and \textit{B. Moll} [J. Political Econ 122, No. 1, 1--51 (2014; \url{doi:10.1086/674363})] to describe economic systems where production is based on knowledge growth and diffusion. This model reduces to a PDE system where a backward Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman equation is coupled with a forward KPP-type equation with nonlocal reaction term. The most important question raised by Lucas and Moll in the analysis of this model is the problem of existence of traveling wave solutions (\textit{balanced growth paths} in the language of economics). This is because that this kind of solution plays a very crucial role in understanding the behavior of the economy in the long run and the existence of sustainable growth strategies. A numerical algorithm was introduced to show the existence of traveling wave solutions. The authors of this paper proved, under fairly general assumptions, the existence of both critical and supercritical traveling waves for this mean-field game system. In particular, they proved a conjecture raised by economists on the existence of a critical traveling waves for the described economy, supposed to be the expected stable growth in the long run. The nonexistence results which clarify the role of parameters in the economic model are also established. The approach is built on fixed point arguments on the sets of critical waves for the forced speed problem arising from the coupling in the KPP-type equation. A full characterization of the whole family of traveling waves for a new class of KPP-type equations with nonlocal and nonhomogeneous reaction terms is provided. This latter analysis has independent interest since it shows new phenomena induced by the nonlocal effects and a different picture of critical waves, compared to the classical literature on Fisher-KPP equations.