Introduction to Agent-Based Economics

Mauro Gallegati is Professor of Economics at the Polytechnic University of Marche, Ancona. He earned his Ph.D. in Economics at the University of Ancona and has been visiting professor in several universities, including Stanford, MIT, and Columbia. His research includes business fluctuations, nonlinear dynamics, models of financial fragility and heterogeneous interacting agents. Mauro Gallegati is well known for his widely-cited work with Joseph E. Stiglitz, developing a theory of asymmetric information with heterogeneous agents. He has published papers in major journals in economics, economic history and history of economic analysis, nonlinear mathematics, complexity, and econophysics. Antonio Palestrini is an Associate Professor of Economics at the Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona (Italy) where he obtained his Ph.D. in Economics. He was a vising post-doc at the University of Madison – Wisconsin (1999); a visiting scholar at the Department of Economics – University of Technology, Sidney (AUS) where he collaborated with Carl Chiarella (2001), and a visiting scholar at the Brookings Institute, Washington DC (USA) where he collaborated with Robert Axtell (2006). His main research interests are business cycles, industrial dynamics, financial fragility, and mathematical finance. He published in international journals such as "Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization," "Ecological Economics," "Macroeconomic Dynamics," "Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control," "Economics Letters," and "Information Sciences." Alberto Russo is Assistant Professor in Economics at the Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona (Italy). He obtained his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Pisa. His research interests include agent-based macroeconomics, financial fragility and systemic risk, social classes and distribution, and experimental economics. He published in recognized journals such as JEDC, JEBO, and JEIC. He is Associate Editor of "Complexity Economics." He is also a member of the INET task force on macroeconomic externalities led by J.E. Stiglitz.

"Since the seminal  Santa Fe conference on the Economy as an 'Evolving Complex System' in 1987, the science of complexity has made tremendous progress. The time is ripe for Economics to fully embrace these ideas and methods, and come up with plausible alternatives to mainstream models, with extreme fluctuations and crises as cases in point. This book offers an insightful overview of the recent developments in that direction." --Jean-Philippe Bouchaud, Capital Fund Management"For a deep understanding of how a decentralized economy coordinates the economic activities of diverse actors, for better or worse, read this book by pioneers of agent-based economics.  It will take you far beyond what you can learn from traditional equilibrium analysis." --Peter Howitt, Brown University"Introduction to Agent-Based Economics is an excellent introduction to agent-based computational economics. A must-read for every student and scholar who wants to get started in the field." --Philipp Harting, Bielefeld University"The book takes a fascinating view on an economy as an adaptive complex system. In contrast to the neoclassical paradigm, systemic risks such as financial crisis and other types of domino effects can be just a natural emergent outcome of interactions of heterogeneous adaptive agents and their evolutionary dynamics. Within a rigid world of economic discipline, Introduction to Agent-Based Economics offers a fresh view on economic reality and its resilience against shocks." --Tatiana Filatova, University of Twente "A very useful guide for those who want to understand what agent-based models in economics are, and why they are becoming more and more popular."  --Andrea Teglio, Universitat Jaume I"The book provides a comprehensive access to agent-based computational economics.  It gives readers clear guidance on how agent-based macroeconomic models can be rigorously built with the aid of the empirical-based and network-based analytics." --Shu-Heng Chen, National Chengchi University"This new book by the 'Ancona Group' of agent based macroeconomists led by Mauro Gallegati is an excellent addition to the rapidly growing literature on agent based macroeconomics. The book nicely blends chapters that may be used to teach the basics of agent based macroeconomics to graduate students with chapters that present advances in the area, from the experimental microfoundations of  behavioural rules to the econometrics of agent based models, and from network models to the development of early warning indicators. The book therefore is required reading for those in the profession and graduate schools who want to be acquainted with this new and exciting field." --Domenico Delli Gatti, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore "The editors of this book are among the world's leaders in research on agent-based modeling of economic dynamics. This new volume presents the cutting edge of this research agenda with papers covering a range of microeconomic, macroeconomic, and financial issues, including such important matters as income distribution dynamics.  This is not to be missed by anyone seriously interested in agent-based modeling." --J. Barkley Rosser, Jr., James Madison University

• Part 1 An Introduction to Agent-Based Computational EconomicsPart 2 Macroeconomic Agent-Based Computational Economics1. Decentralized Interacting Macroeconomic Models and the Agent Based "Modellaccio"2. AS-AD Representation of Macroeconomic Emergent Properties3. Macroeconomic ABM and DSGE Models4. Early Warning Indicator for Crises in an Agent Based Macro ModelPart 3 Macroeconomic ABM: Perspectives and Implications5. Expectation Models in Agent-Based Computational Economics 6. Experimental Economics for ABM Validation 7. Econometric Methods for Agent Based Models8. Modeling the Joint Distribution of Income and Consumption in Italy: A Copula-Based Approach with k-generalized Margins9. A Networked Economy: A Survey on the Effect of Interaction in Credit Markets