Agent-based Models of the Economy: From Theories to Applications

Agent-based models are tools that provide researchers in economic fields with unprecedented analytical capabilities. This book describes the power of agent-based models along their methodology, and it provides several examples of applications spanning from public policy evaluation to financial markets.

Riccardo Boero holds a PhD in Economics (University of Pavia, Italy) and a PhD in Sociology (University of Surrey, UK). He has worked in several academic departments, research centers and local governments in Europe. He now works at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He serves in the editorial board of the Journal of Policy & Complex Systems - JPCS - and of the Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation - JASSS. His research interests are in the fields of Computational Social Science, Experimental Economics and Industrial Economics.
 
Matteo Morini is a research technician at the University of Torino (Italy) and a PhD candidate at the École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France); his research interests are in the fields of Agent-Based Modelling, Complex Systems and Complex Networks; he teaches courses on Complexity and Agent-Based Models at the Collegio Carlo Alberto Master in Economics and Complexity in Moncalieri (Italy) and is an avid Linux user.

Michele Sonnessa holds a PhD in Economics (University of Torino, Italy). He now works as a temporary researcher at Department of Economics, University of Genova. He is also an entrepreneur, with a working experience in computer software development and system design. His main interest concerns the comparison and the integration of different simulation techniques, such as System Dynamics, Process Simulation and Agent-Based Modelling and their applications to business. He is administrator of the JASproject (http://www.jasimulation.org). His research interests are in the fields of Computational Social Science, Simulation Techniques and Health Economics.

Pietro Terna is a retired professor of the University of Torino (Italy), where he was a full professor of Economics. His research work is in the fields of (i) artificial neural networks for economic applications, (ii) social simulation with agent-based models (where he has been pioneering the use of Swarm, www.swarm.org), and (iii) simulation of enterprises and organizations behavior, also in the financial domain, with studies on systemic risks with co-authors of the Italian Central Bank. He has prepared a new agent-based simulation tool in Python (Swarm-Like Agent Protocol in Python), SLAPP, deriving it from the Swarm project. He is teaching a course of Simulation Models for Economics in the Master Degree in Economics of the University of Torino. Publications and projects at http://web.econ.unito.it/terna