Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Strategies for the Study of Complex Socio-Economic Systems: an Approach Using Agent-Based Simulation

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Systemic Practice and Action Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present paper proposes a research strategy that integrates top-down and bottom-up approaches, aimed at the study of complex socio-economic systems. Through a theoretical analysis, it is demonstrated throughout the text a strategy that allows the articulation between agent-based simulation approaches and methods of deductive and phenomenological basis capable of providing social sciences with unprecedented accuracy due to ethical and methodological limitations imposed by the study object until then. This is because this type of hybrid approach allows the construction of a deep systemic articulation between the micro and the macro, as advocated by the General Theory of Systems, at the same time as it is supported by systematic experiments that give new light to the study of the socio-economic complexity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Ashby WR (1970) Introdução à cibernética (G. K. Guinsburg, Trans.). Perspectiva, São Paulo

    Google Scholar 

  • Bainbridge WS (2007) The scientific research potential of virtual worlds. Science 317(5837):472–476. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1146930

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baronett S (2009) Lógica: uma introdução voltada para as ciências (A. Laschuk, Trans.). Bookman, Porto Alegre

    Google Scholar 

  • Bateson G (1967) Cybernetic explanation. Am Behav Sci 10(8):29–32

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bauer R (1999) Gestão da mudança: caos e complexidade nas organizações. Atlas, São Paulo

  • Berryman M, Angus S (2010) Tutorials on agent-based modelling with netlogo and network analysis with pajek. In: Dewar R, Detering F (eds) Complex physical, biophysical and econphysical systems: proceedings of the 22nd canberra international physics summer school. World Scientific, Singapore, pp 351–375

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bertalanffy L v (1972) General system theory: foundations, development, applications. George Braziller, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Bertero CO, Caldas MP, Wood T Jr (1999) Produção Científica em Administração de Empresas: Provocações, Insinuações e Contribuições para um Debate Local. Revista de Administração Contemporânea 3(1):147–178

  • Billari FC, Fent T, Prskawetz A, Scheffran J (2006) Agent-based computational modelling: an introduction. In: Billari FC, Fent T, Prskawetz A, Scheffran J (eds) Agent-based computational modelling: applications in demography, social, economic and environmental sciences. Physica-Verlag, New York, pp 1–16

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan M (2009) The economy needs agent-based modelling. Nature 460(7256):680–682. https://doi.org/10.1038/460685a

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Capra F (1983) The turning point: science, society, and the rising culture. In: Toronto. Bantam Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Capra F (1996) The web of life: a new scientific understanding of living systems. Anchor Books, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Casanova PG (2006) As novas ciências e as humanidades: da academia à política (M. Benedito, Trans. 1 ed.). Boitempo, São Paulo

    Google Scholar 

  • Checkland PB (1989) Soft systems methodology. Hum Syst Manag 8(4):273–289. https://doi.org/10.3233/HSM-1989-8405

    Google Scholar 

  • Checkland PB (2000) Soft systems methodology: a thirty year retrospective. Syst Res Behav Sci 17(1):S11–S58. https://doi.org/10.1002/1099-1743(200011)17:1+<::AID-SRES374>3.0.CO;2-O

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman JS (1994) Foundations of social theory. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Drucker PF (1994) The age of social transformation. The Atlantic Monthly 274(5):53–80

  • Epstein JM, Axtell R (1996) Growing artificial societies: social science from the bottom up. The brookings institution, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Faria A (2005) Realismo crítico em pesquisa estratégica. In: Vieira MMF, Zouain DM (eds) Pesquisa qualitativa em administração. Editora FGV, Rio de Janeiro, pp 45–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Farmer D, Foley D (2009) The economy needs agent-based modelling. Nature 460(7256):685–686. https://doi.org/10.1038/460685a

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Garcia ACB, Sichman JS (2005) Agentes e sistemas multiagentes. In: Rezende SO (ed) Sistemas inteligentes: fundamentos e aplicações. Manole, Barueri, pp 269–306

    Google Scholar 

  • Goulielmos AM (2005) Complexity theory: a science where historical accidents matter. Disaster Prev Manag 14(4):533–547

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gulden TR (2013) Agent-based modeling as a tool for trade and development theory. J Artif Soc Soc Simul 16(2):1

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamill L (2010) Agent-based Modelling: the next 15 years. J Artif Soc Soc Simul 13(4):7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herepath A (2014) In the loop: a realist approach to structure and Agency in the Practice of strategy. Organ Stud 35(6):857–879. https://doi.org/10.1177/0170840613509918

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hinde RA (1974) Social behavior in animals; psychology, comparative; biology; social behavior. McGraw-Hill, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurtado P (2006) Will the real complexity in strategic management please stand up? Competition Forum 4(1):175–182

  • Husserl E (1982) Cartesian meditations: an introduction to phenomenology (D. Cairns, Trans. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Hague

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarzabkowski P, Paul Spee A (2009) Strategy-as-practice: a review and future directions for the field. Int J Manag Rev 11(1):69–95. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2370.2008.00250.x

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jarzabkowski P, Wilson DC (2006) Actionable strategy knowledge: a practice perspective. Eur Manag J 24(5):348–367

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jennings NR (2001) An agent-based approach for building complex software systems: why agent-oriented approaches are well suited for developing complex, distributed systems. Commun ACM 44(4):35–41

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Klee H, Allen R (2011) Simulation of dynamic systems with MATLAB and Simulink, 2nd edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton

  • Lenton TM, Lovelock J (2001) Daisyworld revisited: quantifying biological effects on planetary self-regulation. Tellus B 53(3):288–305

    Google Scholar 

  • Levitt M, Warshel A (1975) Computer simulation of protein folding. Nature 253(5494):94–98

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacLennan BJ (1992) Synthetic ethology: an approach to the study of communication. In: Langton CG, Taylor C, Farmer JD, Rasmussen S (eds) Artificial life II. Addison-Wesley, Redwood City

  • Morin E (2005) Introduction à la pensée complexe. Éditions du Seuil, Paris

    Google Scholar 

  • Morin E (2007) Educação e complexidade: os sete saberes e outros ensaios (E. d. A. Carvalho, Trans. M. d. C. d. Almeida & E. d. A. Carvalho Eds. 4 ed.). Cortez, São Pauelo

    Google Scholar 

  • Pelz J, Hayhoe M, Ballard D, Shrivastava A, Bayliss J, Heyde MVD (1999) Development of a virtual laboratory for the study of complex human behavior. Paper presented at the Stereoscopic Displays and Virtual Reality Systems VI SPIE, San Jose

  • Prahalad CK, Hamel G (1994) Strategy as a field of study: why search for a new paradigm? Strateg Manag J 15:5–16

  • Pyka A, Grebel T (2006) Agent-based modelling - a methodology for the analysis of qualitative development. In: Billari FC, Fent T, Prskawetz A, Scheffran J (eds) Agent-based computational modelling: applications in demography, social, economic and environmental sciences. Physica-Verlag, New York, pp 17–35

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Russell SJ, Norvig P (2003) Artificial intelligence: a modern approach, 2nd edn. Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle River

  • Smets M, Jarzabkowski P (2013) Reconstructing institutional complexity in practice: a relational model of institutional work and complexity. Human Relations 66(10):1279–1309. https://doi.org/10.1177/0018726712471407

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Squazzoni, F. (2010). The impacHist Econ ideast of agent-based models in the social sciences after 15 years of incursions. , 18(2), 197–234

  • Terra LAA, Passador JL (2015) A phenomenological approach to the study of social systems. Syst Pract Action Res:1–15. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-015-9350-7

  • Varela FJ, Maturana HR, Uribe R (1974) Autopoiesis: the organization of living systems, its characterization and a model. Biosystems 5(4):187–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/0303-2647(74)90031-8

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Warshel A, Levitt M (1976) Folding and stability of helical proteins: carp myogen. J Mol Biol 106(2):421–437. https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-2836(76)90094-2

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, E. O. (2000). Sociobiology: the new synthesis: Harvard University Press

  • Wooldridge M, Jennings NR (1995) Intelligent agents: theory and practice. Knowl Eng Rev 10(2):115–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zey-Ferrell M (1981) Criticisms of the dominant perspective on organizations. Sociol Q 22(2):181–205

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade de São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil

    Leonardo Augusto Amaral Terra & João Luiz Passador

Authors
  1. Leonardo Augusto Amaral Terra
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. João Luiz Passador
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Leonardo Augusto Amaral Terra.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Terra, L.A.A., Passador, J.L. Strategies for the Study of Complex Socio-Economic Systems: an Approach Using Agent-Based Simulation. Syst Pract Action Res 31, 311–325 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-017-9427-6

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11213-017-9427-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation