[ajross]

Virtually all feedback systems[1] have oscillatory modes in their solutions. Calling something a "random walk" doesn't tell you how the choices of direction are made, but in economics (and electronics) that's something that's subject to analysis. So I like mine better.

[1] Which an economy is, almost by definition: spending makes the people who sold you stuff richer, who then spend; tight purses mean the producers are poorer too.

[xapata]

An autoregressive system with a positive coefficient is a feedback system, yet it is not oscillatory. Any appearance of such is an illusion, like seeing faces in clouds.