Methodological investigations in agent-based modelling : with applications for the social sciences

Abstract

Following the aims of the Methodos Series perfectly, this 13th volume on agentbased models provides a general view of the problems raised by this approach and shows how these problems may be solved. These methods are derived from computer simulation studies used by mathematicians and physicists. They are now applied in many social disciplines such as artificial life (Alife), political sciences, evolutionary psychology, demography, and many others. Those who introduced them often took care not to consider each social science separately but to view them as a whole, incorporating a wide spectrum of social processes – demographic, economic, sociological, political, and so on. Rather than modelling specific data, this approach models theoretical ideas and is based on computer simulation. Its aim is to understand how the behaviour of biological, social, or more complex systems arises from the characteristics of the individuals or agents composing the said system. As Billari and Prskawetz (2003, p. 42) said.