Generative Social Science: Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling - Rilegato

Epstein, Joshua M.

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0691125473 ISBN 13: 9780691125473

Casa editrice: Princeton Univ Pr, 2007

Riassunto

Agent-based computational modeling is changing the face of social science. In Generative Social Science, Joshua Epstein argues that this powerful, novel technique permits the social sciences to meet a fundamentally new standard of explanation, in which one "grows" the phenomenon of interest in an artificial society of interacting agents: heterogeneous, boundedly rational actors, represented as mathematical or software objects. After elaborating this notion of generative explanation in a pair of overarching foundational chapters, Epstein illustrates it with examples chosen from such far-flung fields as archaeology, civil conflict, the evolution of norms, epidemiology, retirement economics, spatial games, and organizational adaptation. In elegant chapter preludes, he explains how these widely diverse modeling studies support his sweeping case for generative explanation.

This book represents a powerful consolidation of Epstein's interdisciplinary research activities in the decade since the publication of his and Robert Axtell's landmark volume, Growing Artificial Societies. Beautifully illustrated, Generative Social Science includes a CD that contains animated movies of core model runs, and programs allowing users to easily change assumptions and explore models, making it an invaluable text for courses in modeling at all levels.

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Recensione

"It should be noted that having all these contributions in one place is not only useful but pleasing...Epstein's book is a concise and well articulated defense of agent-based modeling. Generative Social Science is essential reading for anyone seriously interested in the foundations and the practice of agent-based modeling." --Daniel Diermeier, Science

"Epstein's Generative Social Science . . . is to be regarded as a success. It is a highly professional book, comestible also by non-experts without giving up scientific rigour. Probably because the author is fond of its subject matter, and manages to transfer his enthusiasm into the reader, the book may be read all at once, as a narrative. . . . In sum, there are good reasons to expect that the community of simulators will welcome this book with enthusiasm, and that other supporters will be recruited." --Rosaria Conte, JASSS

"Epstein's generative manifesto is essential reading for anyone seriously interested in explaining social life." --Michael Macy, American Journal of Sociology

L'autore

Joshua M. Epstein is a Senior Fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution, a founding member of the Brookings-Johns Hopkins Center on Social and Economic Dynamics, and a member of the External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute. He is the coauthor of Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up and the author of Nonlinear Dynamics, Mathematical Biology, and Social Science.

Dettagli dell?edizione

• Editore: Princeton Univ Pr
• Data di pubblicazione: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0691125473
• ISBN 13: 9780691125473
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Lingua: Inglese
• Numero di pagine: 356