Agent-Based Computational Economics: A Constructive Approach to Economic Theory
Leigh Tesfatsion ()
Chapter 16 in Handbook of Computational Economics, 2006, vol. 2, pp 831-880 from Elsevier
Abstract:
Economies are complicated systems encompassing micro behaviors, interaction patterns, and global regularities. Whether partial or general in scope, studies of economic systems must consider how to handle difficult real-world aspects such as asymmetric information, imperfect competition, strategic interaction, collective learning, and the possibility of multiple equilibria. Recent advances in analytical and computational tools are permitting new approaches to the quantitative study of these aspects. One such approach is Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE), the computational study of economic processes modeled as dynamic systems of interacting agents. This chapter explores the potential advantages and disadvantages of ACE for the study of economic systems. General points are concretely illustrated using an ACE model of a two-sector decentralized market economy. Six issues are highlighted: Constructive understanding of production, pricing, and trade processes; the essential primacy of survival; strategic rivalry and market power; behavioral uncertainty and learning; the role of conventions and organizations; and the complex interactions among structural attributes, institutional arrangements, and behavioral dispositions.
JEL-codes: C63 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2006
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (289)
Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B7P5C ... e7104b2b590b48264d1f
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
Related works:
Working Paper: Agent-Based Computational Economics: A Constructive Approach to Economic Theory (2006) 
Working Paper: Agent-Based Computational Economics: A Constructive Approach to Economic Theory (2006)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:hecchp:2-16
Access Statistics for this chapter
More chapters in Handbook of Computational Economics from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().