SIKS Masterclass: Evolutionary Agent-Based
Policy Analysis
SIKS-phd-students are strongly encouraged to participate.
DATE: Thursday 16 April, 13.00-15.00
LOCATION:
Room S607, Faculty of Exact Sciences
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
De Boelelaan 1081a
1081 HV Amsterdam
ABSTRACT:
Human societies are complex multi-agent systems where behavior evolves through
imitation in a social network, allowing heterogeneous agents with limited
information to draw on the collective experience of the group. Despite these
rather obvious facts, formal models for economic policy analysis are largely
based on the idea of homogeneous agents that make independent rational
decisions on the basis of individual information, without any reference to social
interaction.
Two short introductory lessons will highlight the problematic from the point of
view of both economics and exact sciences. Afterwards, experts from economics
and from the exact sciences will discuss a number of questions, ranging from
the historic reasons for this discrepancy, whether and where evolutionary
agent-based policy analysis is feasible and preferred, and how an evolutionary
agent-based approach can be validated in the eyes of mainstream economists. We
will specifically discuss policies that address environmental issues as well as
the current credit crisis.
PROGRAM:
13:00-13:30 Two short introductory lectures by Simona Cantono (Economics) and
Volker Nannen (Artificial Intelligence).
13:30-14:30 Podium discussion of pre-formulated questions. Members of the
podium include Prof. Jeroen van de Bergh (Economics) and Prof. Sorin Solomon
(Physics).
14:30-15.00 Free discussion with an emphasis on future research projects.
Official program: http://www.few.vu.nl/~volker/workshop