The Regional Multi-Agent Simulator (RegMAS): an open-source spatially explicit model to assess the impact of agricultural policies

Antonello Lobianco and Roberto Esposti

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: RegMAS (Regional Multi Agent Simulator) is an open-source spatially explicit multi-agent model framework specifically designed for long-term simulations of the effects of policies on agricultural systems. Using iterated conventional optimisation problems as agents’ behavioural rules, it allows for a bidirectional integration between geophysical and social models where spatially-distributed characteristics are taken into account in the programming problem of the optimising agents. With RegMAS it is possible to simulate the local specific response to a given policy (or scenario), where policies, together with macro and regional characteristics, are read into the program in specially formatted spreadsheets and standard GIS files. The paper presents the model logic and structure and describes its functioning by applying it to a case-study, where RegMAS results are compared with conventional agent-based modelling to demonstrate the advantages of spatial explicitness. The simulation refers to the impact of the recent “Health Check” of the CAP on farm structures, income and land use in a hilly area of a central Italian region (Marche).

Keywords: Agent-Based Modelling; Mathematical Programming; Explicit Spatial Analysis; Common Agricultural Policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C61 C63 Q12 Q18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cmp and nep-geo
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

Published in Computers and Electronics in Agriculture 1.72(2010): pp. 14-26

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