764
What Micro-Foundations for Agent-Based Computational Models?

Thursday, 19 July 2018: 15:30-17:20
Location: 712 (MTCC SOUTH BUILDING)
RC45 Rational Choice (host committee)

Language: English

Over the last ten years or so, rational choice theorists (Raub et al. 2011) and analytical sociologists (Manzo 2014a; Hedström and Manzo 2015) have incorporated agent-based computational models in their toolbox for the study of macro-to-micro-to-macro relationships. This appropriation contributed to the idea that agent-based models are naturally tied to a specific action theory, namely rational choice theory (see Elster 2009). Some authors highlighted the erroneous character of this association (Manzo 2014). Agent-based modeling can indeed accommodate a great variety of micro-perspectives (Miller and Page 2007) ranging from simple heuristics (Todd et al. 2005; Manzo and Baldassarri 2015), heuristic-based game-theoretic strategies (Alexander 2007), sophisticated maximizing behaviors (Shoham and Leyton-Brown 2009), and complex cognitive reasoning (Wooldridge 2000) to argument-based decisions (Gabbriellini and Torroni 2014). The variety of action principles that are compatible with agent-based computational models is still under-appreciated. This session invites contributions demonstrating the great flexibility of this simulation method for the implementation of formal models based on various micro-level assumptions. Papers with a well-defined empirical target are especially welcome.
Session Organizer:
Gianluca MANZO, CNRS, France
Oral Presentations
The Income Cliff in Households: Insights from Agent-Based Computational Modelling
André GROW, University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Belgium; Jan VAN BAVEL, KU Leuven, Belgium
Argumentative Agents with an Empirical Test
Simone GABBRIELLINI, GECS - Research Group on Experimental and Computational Sociology, Italy; Daniela LORETI, University of Bologna, Italy; Hugo MERCIER, Institut des Sciences Cognitives, France; Paolo TORRONI, University of Bologna, Italy
The Order of Human Interdependencies: Simulating Elias’ One-Level Multi-Person Models
Kenneth HEMMERECHTS, Doctoral student, Belgium; Nohemi ECHEVERRIA, Doctoral student, Belgium; Dimokritos KAVADIAS, Professor, Belgium
Agent-Based Modelling of Conventions in Microfinance Groups
Pablo LUCAS, University College Dublin, Ireland; Bruce EDMONDS, Business School, Manchester Metropolitan University, United Kingdom
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