Abstract
A model of decentralized trade is simulated with firms that produce a given commodity, and consumers who repeatedly wish to purchase one unit of that commodity. Consumers ‘shop around’, while firms may attract the attention of potential customers by sending information signals and offering good service. The main objective of this paper is to present an example of a computational approach to address the following question: How do self-organized markets emerge in the economy, and what are their characteristics?
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alpern, S., & Snower, D.J. (1988), “High-Low Search” in Product and Labor Markets.American Economic Review, 78, 356–362.
Anderlini, L., & Sabourian, H., (1988).Some Notes on the Economics of Barter, Money and Credit (Economic Theory Discussion Paper No. 128) University of Cambridge.
Anderson, P.W., Arrow, K.J., & Pines, D. (Eds.). (1988),The Economy as an Evolving Complex System. The Proceedings of the Evolutionary Paths of the Global Economy Workshop, Held September, 1987 in Santa Fe, New Mexico (Vol. V, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity). Redwood City, CA: Addison-Wesley.
Andreoni, J., & Miller, J.H. (1991).Auctions with Adaptive Artificially Intelligent Agents (Working Paper 91-01-004) Santa Fe Institute.
Arthur, W.B., Holland, J., LeBaron, B., Palmer, R., & Taylor, P. (1994).An Artificial Stock Market (mimeo).
Bak, P., Chen, K., Scheinkman, J., & Woodford, M. (1993).Aggregate Fluctuations from Independent Sectoral Shocks: Self-Organized Criticality in a Model of Production and Inventory Dynamics (Working Paper 93-01-004) Santa Fe Institute.
Bergmann, B.R. (1989), A Microsimulated Model of Inventories in Interfirm Competition.Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 14, 65–77.
Blume, L.E. (1993). The Statistical Mechanics of Strategic Interaction.Games and Economic Behavior, 5, 387–424.
Bush, R.R., & Mosteller, F. (1955).Stochastic Models for Learning. New York: Wiley.
Cross, J.G. (1983).A Theory of Adaptive Economic Behavior. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Diamond, P.A. (1982). Aggregate Demand Management in Search Equilibrium.Journal of Political Economy, 90, 881–894.
Durlauf, S.N. (1990).Locally Interacting Systems, Coordination Failure, and the Behavior of Aggregate Activity (mimeo Dept. of Economics) Stanford University.
Durlauf, S.N. (1994).Neighborhood Feedbacks, Endogenous Stratification, and Income Inequality (mimeo).
Ellison, G. (1993). Learning, Local Interaction, and Coordination.Econometrica, 61, 1047–1071.
Föllmer, H. (1974). Random Economies with Many Interacting Agents.Journal of Mathematical Economics, 1, 51–62.
Foley, D.K. (1975). On Two Specifications of Asset equilibrium in Macroeconomic Models.Journal of Political Economy, 83, 303–324.
Griffeath, D. (1979).Additive and Cancellative Interacting Particle Systems. (Lecture Notes in Mathematics 724). Berlin: Springer.
Harley, C.B. (1981). Learning the Evolutionarily Stable Strategy:Journal of Theoretical Biology, 89, 611–633.
Hart, A.G. (1951).Anticipations, Uncertainty and Dynamic Planning (2nd ed.). New York: Kelley.
Holland, J.H. (1986). Escaping Brittleness: The Possibilities of General-Purpose learning Algorithms Applied to parallel Rule-Based Systems. In R.S. Michalski, J.G. Carbonell & T.M. Mitchell (Eds.),Machine Learning: An Artificial Intelligence Approach (Vol.22) (pp. 593–623). Los Altos, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.
Holland, J.H. (1992).Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems. An Introductory Analysis with Applications to Biology, Control, and Artificial Intelligence (2nd ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kandori, M., Mailath, G.J., & Rob, R. (1993). Learning, Mutation, and Long Run Equilibria in Games.Econometrica, 61, 29–56.
Kirman, A. (1992). Whom or What Does the Representative Individual Represent?Journal of Economic Perspectives, 6, No. 2, 117–136.
Klamer, A. (1984).The New Classical Macroeconomics. Conversations with New Classical Economists and their Opponents. Brighton: Wheatsheaf.
Lane, D.A. (1992).Artificial Worlds and Economics (Working Paper 92-09-048) Santa Fe Institute.
Machine Learning (1988).3, Nos. 2/3, Special Issue on Genetic Algorithms.
Machine Learning (1992).8, Nos. 3/4, Special Issue on Reinforcement Learning.
Mailath, G., Samuelson, L., & Shaked, A. (1993).Correlated Equilibria as Network Equilibria (Discussion Paper No. B-244) University of Bonn.
Marimon, R., McGrattan, E., & Sargent, T.J. (1990). Money as a Medium of Exchange in an Economy with Artificially Intelligent Agents.Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 14, 329–373.
Roth, A.E., & Erev, I. (forthcoming). Learning in Extensive-Form Games: Experimental Data and Simple Dynamic Models in the Intermediate Term.Games and Economic Behavior.
Rust, J., Palmer, R., & Miller, J.H. (1992).Behavior of Trading Automata in a Computerized Double Auction Market (Working Paper 92-02-008) Santa Fe Institute.
Shubik, M. (1988).A Game Theoretic Approach to the Theory of Money and Financial Institutions (Lecture notes) Siena International School of Economic Research.
Smith, A. (1776).An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. London: Strahan and Cadell.
Stanley, E.A., Ashlock, D., & Tesfatsion, L. (1994). Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma with Choice and Refusal of Partners. In C.G. Langton (Ed.),Artificial Life III (Vol. XVII, Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity, pp. 131–175). Redwood, CA: Addison-Wesley.
Sutton, J. (1980). A Model of Stochastic Equilibrium in a Quasi-Competitive Industry.Review of Economic Studies, 47, 705–722.
Sutton, R.S. (1992). Introduction: The Challenge of Reinforcement Learning.Machine Learning, 8, Nos. 3/4, 225–227.
Tversky, A., & Kahneman, D. (1986). Rational Choice and the Framing of Decisions.Journal of Business, 59, No. 4, Pt. 2, S251-S278.
Vriend, N.J. (1993).Essays on Decentralized Trade (Ph.D. thesis) European University Institute, Florence.
Vriend, N.J. (1994). Artificial Intelligence and Economic Theory. In E. Hillebrand & J. Stender (Eds.),Many-Agent Simulation and Artificial Life (pp. 31–47). Amsterdam: IOS.
Young, H.P. (1993). The Evolution of Conventions.Econometrica, 61, 57–84.
Zarnowitz, V. (1985). Recent Work on Business Cycles in Historical Perspective: A Review of Theories and Evidence.Journal of Economic Literature, 23, 523–580.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Vriend, N.J. Self-organization of markets: An example of a computational approach. Comput Econ 8, 205–231 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01298460
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01298460