Fractional Dynamics with Depreciation and Obsolescence: Equations with Prabhakar Fractional Derivatives

Abstract

In economics, depreciation functions (operator kernels) are certain decreasing functions, which are assumed to be equal to unity at zero. Usually, an exponential function is used as a depreciation function. However, exponential functions in operator kernels do not allow simultaneous consideration of memory effects and depreciation effects. In this paper, it is proposed to consider depreciation of a non-exponential type, and simultaneously take into account memory effects by using the Prabhakar fractional derivatives and integrals. Integro-differential operators with the Prabhakar (generalized Mittag-Leffler) function in the kernels are considered. The important distinguishing features of the Prabhakar function in operator kernels, which allow us to take into account non-exponential depreciation and fading memory in economics, are described. In this paper, equations with the following operators are considered: (a) the Prabhakar fractional integral, which contains the Prabhakar function as the kernels; (b) the Prabhakar fractional derivative of Riemann–Liouville type proposed by Kilbas, Saigo, and Saxena in 2004, which is left inverse for the Prabhakar fractional integral; and (c) the Prabhakar operator of Caputo type proposed by D’Ovidio and Polito, which is also called the regularized Prabhakar fractional derivative. The solutions of fractional differential equations with the Prabhakar operator and its special cases are suggested. The asymptotic behavior of these solutions is discussed.

Keywords

• fractional calculus
• fractional derivative
• memory
• depreciation
• Mittag-Leffler function
• Prabhakar function