This report presents, motivates, and illustrates the use of a computational laboratory for the investigation of evolutionary trade network formation among strategically interacting buyers, sellers, and dealers. The computational laboratory, referred to as the Trade Network Game Laboratory (TNG...

Related work can be accessed here: http://www.econ.iastate.edu/tesfatsi/tnghome.htm

This chapter explores the potential advantages and disadvantages of Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) for the study of economic systems. General points are concretely illustrated using an ACE model of a two-sector decentralized market economy. Six issues are highlighted: Constructive...

Various approaches used in Agent-based Computational Economics (ACE) to model endogenously determined interactions between agents are discussed. This concerns models in which agents not only (learn how to) play some (market or other) game, but also (learn to) decide with whom to do that (or not).

We provide experimental evidence that contractual incompleteness, i.e., the absence of third party enforcement of workers’ effort or the quality of the good traded, causes a fundamental change in the nature of market interactions. If contracts are complete the vast majority of trades are...

In recent years, many social scientists have claimed that trust plays an important role in economic and social transactions. Despite its proposed importance, the measurement and the definition of trust seem to be not fully settled, and the identification of the exact role of trust in economic...

In recent years, many social scientists have claimed that trust plays an important role in economic and social transactions. Despite its proposed importance, the measurement and the definition of trust seem to be not fully settled, and the identification of the exact role of trust in economic...

Increasing divisional operational responsibilities and the dispersal of knowledge creating activities within the firm have loosened the traditional hierarchical structure of multi-divisional firms. In this paper we argue that a similar mixture of competition and cooperation that is found in...

Economic agents may sometimes find themselves in circumstances in which they are effectively endowed with preferences that place a priority on first meeting specific "acceptability standards" before attention can be placed on optimizing their "aspirational objective." We introduce the notion of...

A monopolist is treated as a nexus of contracts with team production. It has one owner-manager who is the employer of two employees. A team production problem is present if the employer is a “managerial lemon.” If the team production problem is solved, the employer is a “managerial...