  We introduce a class of Kac-like kinetic equations on the real line, with
general random collisional rules, which include as particular cases models for
wealth redistribution in an agent-based market or models for granular gases
with a background heat bath. Conditions on these collisional rules which
guarantee both the existence and uniqueness of equilibrium profiles and their
main properties are found. We show that the characterization of these
stationary solutions is of independent interest, since the same profiles are
shown to be solutions of different evolution problems, both in the econophysics
context and in the kinetic theory of rarefied gases.
