2005-04-30 papers

on Computational Economics

Issue of 2005‒04‒30
two papers chosen by

Agent-Based Models of Industrial Clusters and Districts By Guido Fioretti
Simple market protocols for efficient risk sharing By Marco LiCalzi; Paolo Pellizzari

Agent-Based Models of Industrial Clusters and Districts

By:	Guido Fioretti (University of Bologna)
Abstract:	Agent-based models, an instance of the wider class of connectionist models, allow bottom-up simulations of organizations constituted byu a large number of interacting parts. Thus, geogrfaphical clusters of competing or collaborating firms constitute an obvious field of application. This contribution explains what agent-based models are, reviews applications in the field of industrial clusters and focuses on a simulator of infra- and inter-firm communications.
Keywords:	Agent-based models, industrial clusters, industrial districts
JEL:	R
Date:	2005–04–28
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpur:0504009&r=cmp

Simple market protocols for efficient risk sharing

By:	Marco LiCalzi (University of Venice, Italy); Paolo Pellizzari (University of Venice, Italy)
Abstract:	This paper studies the performance of four market protocols with regard to allocative efficiency and other performance criteria such as volume or volatility. We examine batch auctions, continuous double auctions, specialist dealerships, and a hybrid of these last two. All protocols are practically implementable because the space of messages for traders is simple. We test the protocols by running (computerized) experiments in an environment that controls for traders’ behavior and rules out any informational effect. We find that all protocols generically converge to the efficient allocation in finite time. An extended comparison over other performance criteria produces no clear winner, but the presence of a specialist is clearly associated with the best all-round performance.
Keywords:	market microstructure, allocative efficiency, comparison of market institutions, agent-based simulations.
JEL:	G19
Date:	2005–04–26
URL:	http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wpa:wuwpfi:0504019&r=cmp

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