These notes review two simple heterogeneous agent models in economics and finance. The first is a cobweb model with rational versus naive agents introduced in Brock and Hommes (1997). The second is an asset pricing model with fundamentalists versus technical traders introduced in Brock and...

This paper explores the question whether boundedly rational agents learn to behave optimally when asked to voluntarily contribute to a public good. The decision process of individuals is described by an Evolutionary Algorithm. We analyze the learning process of purely and impurely altruistic...

Dieser Beitrag gibt einen Überblick über Ansatzpunkte und Möglichkeiten zur Integration von Lernprozessen in volkswirtschaftliche Fragestellungen. Es werden alternative Methoden vorgestellt, individuelle aber auch gesellschaftliche Lernenvorgänge in ökonomischen Modellen zu erfassen.

I study how boundedly rational agents can learn the solution to an infinite horizon optimal consumption problem under uncertainty and liquidity constraints. I present conditions for the existence of an optimal linear consumption rule and characterize it. Additionally, I use an empirically...

I study how boundedly rational agents can learn a "good" solution to an infinite horizon optimal consumption problem under uncertainty and liquidity constraints. Using an empirically plausible theory of learning I propose a class of adaptive learning algorithms that agents might use to choose a...

We exhibit and characterize an entire class of simple adaptive strategies, in the repeated play of a game, having the Hannan-consistency property: In the long-run, the player is guaranteed an average payoff as large as the best-reply payoff to the empirical distribution of play of the other...

Interacting agents in finance represent a behavioral, agent-based approach in which financial markets are viewed as complex adaptive systems consisting of many boundedly rational agents interacting through simple heterogeneous investment strategies, constantly adapting their behavior in response...

Overconfidence is the most prevalent judgment bias. Several studies find that overconfidence can lead to suboptimal decisions on the part of investors, managers, or politicians. This chapter explains which effects are usually summarized as overconfidence, shows how to measure these effects, and...

Combining experimental datasets from seven individual studies, including 255 asset markets with 2,031 participants, and 36,326 short-term price forecasts, we analyze the role of heterogeneity of beliefs in the organization of trading behavior by reproducing and reconsidering earlier experimental...