Policy and Complex Systems - Volume 1 Number 2 - Fall 2014
From Agent-Based Models to Network Analysis ( and Return ): The Policy-Making Perspective
Magda Fontana A & Pietro Terna B
An important perspective use of agent-based models ( ABMs ) is that of being employed as tools to support decision systems in policymaking , in the complex systems framework . Such models can be usefully employed at two different levels : to help in deciding ( policymaker level ) and to empower the capabilities of people in evaluating the effectiveness of policies ( citizen level ). Consequently , the class of ABMs for policymaking needs to be both quite simple in its structure and highly sophisticated in its outcomes . The pursuing of simplicity and sophistication can be made more effective by applying network analysis to the emergent results . Actually , in today ’ s world the consequences of choices and decisions and their effects on society , and on its organization , are equally relevant . Considering the agent-based and network techniques together , we have a further important possibility . Since it is easier to have network data ( i . e . social network data ) than detailed behavioral individual information , we can try to understand the relationships between the dynamic changes of the networks emerging from ABMs and the behavior of the agents . As we understand these connections , we can apply them to actual networks , to try to understand what the behavioral black boxes of real-world agents contain . We propose a simple basic structure where events , scheduled upon time , call upon agents to behave , to modify their context , and to create new structures of links among them . Events are organized as collections of small acts and steps . The metaphor is that of a recipe , i . e . a set of directions with a list of ingredients for making or preparing something , especially food ( as defined in the American Heritage dictionary ). Technically , recipes are sequences of numerical or alphanumerical codes , reported in vectors , and move from an agent to another determining the events and generating the edges of the emerging networks . A basic code will be shown , useful to manage possible applications in different fields : production , healthcare scenarios , paper co-authorship , opinion spreading , etc .
Keywords : networks , complexity , agent-based simulation
A
Department of Economics and Statistics “ Cognetti de Martiis ,” University of Turin
B
Department of Economics , Sociology , Mathematics and Statistics , University of Turin ( retired professor )
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10.18278 / jpcs . 2.1.8