Emergence and Causation in Simulation Models in Social Sciences

Abstract

The aim of the lecture is to give an introduction to some computational/simulation methods used in social sciences. We start from the early implementations of simulated systems in analog and digital computers. We then consider some macrosimulation techniques, namely system dynamics and discrete-event simulation. We pass to microsimulation techniques introduced in economics and political science. At last we consider cellular automata and agent-based models. Throughout the lecture, we will stress some common features of these models that have become important over time, namely emergence and causation.

Raffaello Seri

Professor of Econometrics

My research interests include statistics, numerical analysis, operations research, psychology, economics and management.