Syllabus of Readings

Complex Adaptive Systems
and Agent-Based Computational Economics

Last Updated: 28 July 2007
Site maintained by:: Leigh Tesfatsion; Department of Economics; Iowa State University; Ames, Iowa 50011-1070; http://www.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/; tesfatsi AT iastate.edu
Agent-Based Computational Economics (ACE) Website

Acknowledgements:: At the time of its initiation (1996), this continually updated site was based in part on the artificial life syllabi prepared by Emanuel Gruengard (Bar-Ilan University), John Koza (Stanford University), and Martin Zwick (Portland State University), and on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) manual maintained by Joerg Heitkoetter of the University of Dortmund for the newsgroup comp.ai.genetic. To keep the site to a manageable size, CAS/ACE-related books are now stressed in preference to articles and working papers. Various CAS/ACE-related websites and journals, magazines, and publishing companies are regularly consulted for interesting books to include. Suggestions from readers are also most welcome.

Overview:

A system is typically defined to be a complex system if it exhibits the following two properties (see, e.g., Gary Flake, The Computational Beauty of Nature, MIT Press, 1998):

The system is composed of interacting units;
The system exhibits emergent properties, that is, properties arising from the interactions of the units that are not properties of the individual units themselves.

Agreement on the definition of a complex adaptive system (CAS) has proved to be more difficult to achieve. The range of possible definitions offered by commentators includes the following three nested characterizations:

Definition 1:: A CAS is a complex system that includes reactive units, i.e., units capable of exhibiting systematically different attributes in reaction to changed environmental conditions.
Definition 2:: A CAS is a complex system that includes goal-directed units, i.e., units that are reactive and that direct at least some of their reactions towards the achievement of built-in (or evolved) goals.
Definition 3:: A CAS is a complex system that includes planner units, i.e., units that are goal-directed and that attempt to exert some degree of control over their environment to facilitate achievement of these goals.

Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) is a culture-dish approach to the study of economic systems viewed as complex adaptive systems in the sense of Definition 1, at a minimum, and often in the stronger sense of Definition 2 or Definition 3. As in a culture-dish laboratory experiment, the ACE modeler starts by computationally constructing an economic world comprising multiple interacting agents (units). The modeler then steps back to observe the development of the world over time.

This site provides annotated references to readings of possible interest to CAS researchers in general and to ACE researchers in particular.

CAS/ACE Readings by Topic Area:

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Syllabus of Readings

Complex Adaptive Systems and Agent-Based Computational Economics

Overview:

CAS/ACE Readings by Topic Area:

Copyright © 2007 Leigh Tesfatsion. All Rights Reserved.

Complex Adaptive Systems
and Agent-Based Computational Economics