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Agent-Based Models and Their Development Through the Lens of Networks

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Book cover Economic Foundations for Social Complexity Science

Part of the book series: Evolutionary Economics and Social Complexity Science ((EESCS,volume 9))

Abstract

In this paper we attempt to provide a historical overview of the development of agent-based models from a network perspective. We trace two distinct stages in the development of agent-based models – first-generation models (prior to the 1990s) and second-generation models (since the late 1990s), with a salient break in the middle. We highlight the nexus and synergies between these two approaches. We show that the early developments of agent-based models in the cellular automata tradition contained crucial ingredients concerning networks in them even before they were applied to the social sciences. We argue that networks or interconnectivity (coupling) is a fundamental feature that has enabled agent-based modelers to develop a unique version of complexity science, both in terms of ontology and epistemology.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This neighborhood can include agent i as well.

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Acknowledgements

The first and second authors are grateful for the research support in the form of Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Grants, MOST 103-2410-H-004-009-MY3 and MOST 104-2811-H-004-003, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Economics, AI-ECON Research Center, National Chengchi University, Taipei, Taiwan

    Shu-Heng Chen

  2. Institute of Management Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London, London, UK

    Ragupathy Venkatachalam

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  1. Shu-Heng Chen
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  2. Ragupathy Venkatachalam
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Correspondence to Shu-Heng Chen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Commerce, Chuo University, Hachioji, Tokyo, Japan

    Yuji Aruka

  2. Directeur d’études à l’EHESS, Paris, Professeur Emerite Aix-Marseille Université, Aix-en-Provence, France

    Alan Kirman

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Chen, SH., Venkatachalam, R. (2017). Agent-Based Models and Their Development Through the Lens of Networks. In: Aruka, Y., Kirman, A. (eds) Economic Foundations for Social Complexity Science. Evolutionary Economics and Social Complexity Science, vol 9. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5705-2_5

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