  We analyze wealth condensation for a wide class of stochastic economy models
on the basis of the economic analog of thermodynamic potentials, termed
transfer potentials. The economy model is based on three common transfers modes
of wealth: random transfer, profit proportional to wealth and motivation of
poor agents to work harder. The economies never reach steady state. Wealth
condensation is the result of stochastic tunneling through a metastable
transfer potential. In accordance with reality, both wealth and income
distribution transiently show Pareto tails for high income subjects. For
metastable transfer potentials, exponential wealth condensation is a robust
feature. For example with 10 % annual profit 1% of the population owns 50 % of
the wealth after 50 years. The time to reach such a strong wealth condensation
is a hyperbolic function of the annual profit rate.
