[Zurück]

M. Scholz-Wäckerle, W. Radax, B. Rengs:
"An agent-based approach to institutional change";
Vortrag: EAEPE 2009, Amsterdam; 06.11.2009 - 08.11.2009.

The following paper examines the possibilities and difficulties of simulating institutional
change via an agent-based framework, which will be shown by means of a preliminary model
within qualitative simulation runs. The paper briefly outlines the dominant literature of
evolutionary institutional economics, in order to sketch decent pictures and stories of
institutions. This includes appropriate definitions of institutions and its relation to
organizations. This short theoretical part shall clarify terms needed for our modelling part.
Our model is capable of simulating the emergence and exit of institutional units, understood
as organizational governed entities; hence it is not able to simulate the evolution of so-called
generic institutions at this state of research. Within our agent-based model we can show how
endogenized trust and exogenously given leader authority influences the stability (age) of
institutions. Therefore we present the main formal components of our model and discuss its
pros and cons. Additionally we present some preliminary results of simulation runs and proof
the examined data on robustness and sensitivity, as well as on validity in respect of the current
theory. At last we sketch some exemplary scenarios of institutional change that we are able to
simulate and reproduce.
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