Ponzi system dynamics: time to bankruptcy, optimal bailout time and a condition for survival

Every Ponzi ‘investment’ scheme is fraudulent and it is destined for eventual collapse. When a Ponzi scheme starts, the early investors make unreasonably high profits from receiving unrealistically high (and ‘guaranteed’) returns. However, unbeknown to the unsuspecting investors, these returns are made possible not by the profits of a successful business (as claimed by the Ponzi operator), but by the deposits of the later investors. …