Agent-Based Models in Economics: A Toolkit

Description

In contrast to mainstream economics, complexity theory conceives the economy as a complex system of heterogeneous interacting agents characterised by limited information and bounded rationality. Agent Based Models (ABMs) are the analytical and computational tools developed by the proponents of this emerging methodology. Aimed at students and scholars of contemporary economics, this book includes a comprehensive toolkit for agent-based computational economics, now quickly becoming the new way to study evolving economic systems. Leading scholars in the field explain how ABMs can be applied fruitfully to many real-world economic examples and represent a great advancement over mainstream approaches. The essays discuss the methodological bases of agent-based approaches and demonstrate step-by-step how to build, simulate and analyse ABMs and how to validate their outputs empirically using the data. They also present a wide set of applications of these models to key economic topics, including the business cycle, labour markets, and economic growth. Agent-Based Models in Economics......Page 1 Dedication......Page 5 Contents......Page 7 Figures......Page 11 Tables......Page 13 Contributors......Page 14 Preface......Page 17 1 - Introduction......Page 19 2 - Agent-Based Computational Economics - What, Why, When......Page 28 3 - Agent-Based Models as Recursive Systems......Page 51 4 - Rationality, Behavior, and Expectations......Page 61 5 - Agents’ Behavior and Learning......Page 99 6 - Interaction......Page 127 7 - The Agent-Based Experiment......Page 161 8 - Empirical Validation of Agent-Based Models......Page 181 9 - Estimation of Agent-Based Models......Page 201 10 - Epilogue......Page 240 Bibliography......Page 242 Index......Page 258