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Agent-based Models

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioComplex Systems Modeling for Obesity Research

Ross A. Hammond, July 2009, Preventing Chronic Disease

Obesity has grown rapidly into a major public health challenge in the United States and worldwide. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has said that as many as one-third of Americans are obese. Ross Hammond explains how techniques from the field of complexity science can inform both scientific study of obesity and effective policies to combat it. Read More

Agent-based Models, Quality-of-Life Issues, Public Health

VIDEO

Save to My PortfolioContaining the Spread of Swine Flu and Other Diseases through Dynamic Modeling

Ross A. Hammond, April 28, 2009

Containing the Spread of Swine Flu and Other Diseases through Dynamic ModelingWith cases of swine flu rising in the United States and around the world, health officials are taking action to contain the spread and severity of the disease. Brookings Fellow Ross Hammond discussed the artificial society models he has helped develop that can aid professionals in better understanding how to prepare for and react to epidemics.

Pandemic Disease, Global Health, Agent-based Models, Technology, U.S. Economy

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioWhat a Flu Pandemic Could Cost the World

Warwick J. McKibbin and Alexandra A. Sidorenko, April 28, 2009, Foreign Policy - The Argument

What a Flu Pandemic Could Cost the WorldFearing the swine flu outbreak may lead to pandemic, stock markets have declined and tourism, food and transportation industries are suffering from a lack of public confidence. Brookings expert Warwick McKibbin and Alexandra A. Sidorenko offer insight into what type of reactions we could see from the global economy. Read More

Global Health, Pandemic Disease, Global Economics, Global Financial Crisis, Agent-based Models

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioCoupled Contagion Dynamics of Fear and Disease: Mathematical and Computational Explorations

Joshua M. Epstein, Jon Parker, Derek Cummings and Ross A. Hammond, December 2008, PLoS One Journal

Coupled Contagion Dynamics of Fear and Disease: Mathematical and Computational ExplorationsIn classical mathematical epidemiology, individuals do not adapt their contact behavior during epidemics. They do not endogenously engage, for example, in social distancing based on fear. Yet, adaptive behavior is well-documented in true epidemics. Joshua M. Epstein, Jon Parker, Derek Cummings, and Ross A. Hammond explore the effect of including such behavior in models of epidemic dynamics.   Read More

Social Norms, Agent-based Models, Pandemic Disease

VIDEO

Save to My PortfolioHow Computer Modeling Can Avert Pandemic Outbreaks

Joshua M. Epstein, December 02, 2008

How Computer Modeling Can Avert Pandemic OutbreaksBrookings’s Center on Social and Economic Dynamics has pioneered a model that forecasts how infectious diseases like the flu spread. Center director Joshua Epstein says the Obama administration should use modeling to avert pandemic outbreaks and restore faith in the public health system.

Health Care, Agent-based Models, Technology, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Pandemic Disease

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioModeling Social Behavior

Joshua M. Epstein, November 26, 2008, National Institutes of Health

Joshua Epstein gave a presentation on why model social behavior during a NIH conference, which explored the field of social behavior modeling, identifying opportunities, challenges, and gaps in our collective knowledge. Participants explored the scope and direction of the field through presentations and facilitated discussion. Read More

Agent-based Models, Productivity

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioWhy Model?

Joshua M. Epstein, October 31, 2008, Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation

Based on a keynote address, Joshua M. Epstein discusses and challenges enduring misconceptions about modeling, offering sixteen reasons other than prediction to build a model. Read More

Agent-based Models

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioUnderstanding Strategic Learning through Game Theory and Agent-Based Modeling

H. Peyton Young, July 13, 2008, The Brookings Institution

Peyton Young addresses his recent game theory and agent-based modeling work in the Presidential Address to the World Congress of the Game Theory Society at Northwestern University. Read More

Agent-based Models, Productivity

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioA Complex Systems Approach to Understanding and Combating the Obesity Epidemic

Ross A. Hammond, June 17, 2008, The Brookings Institution

In his latest working paper, CSED Fellow Ross A. Hammond says that obesity is a substantial and growing public health crisis worldwide. Many of its features—breadth of scale, diversity in actors, and multiplicity of mechanisms—are hallmarks of a complex adaptive system. Thus, according to Hammond, the lessons and tools of complexity science can help us better understand and combat the obesity epidemic. Read More

Health Care, Agent-based Models

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioAgent-Based Modeling: New Methods in Estimating Impact

Shubha Chakravarty, April 15, 2008, Gates Foundation Grand Challenge 9 Meeting

On April 15, 2008 CSED affilate Shubha Chakravarty presented a talk on agent-based modeling at the Gates Foundation Grand Challenge 9 Meeting in Kampala, Uganda. The meeting focused on new progress in developing bio-fortified staple crop species, yielding discussion of using agent-based modeling to study crop diseases and genetic drift of new plant varieties.

 

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Agent-based Models

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioArtificial Society: Getting Clues on How a Pandemic Might Happen by Creating a Huge Model of the United States

Joshua M. Epstein, April 02, 2008, Federal News Radio AM 1050

With the possibility of a national or international emergency, people need to know how to best be prepared. Joshua M. Epstein discusses how agent-based computational modeling has the ability to create artificial societies to model human behavior in an emergency situation. Read More

Agent-based Models, Homeland Security, Health Care, Public Health

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioQ&A With Joshua Epstein on Computational Modeling

Joshua M. Epstein, March 19, 2008, Brookings Institution

CSED Director and Economic Studies Senior Fellow Joshua Epstein explains his breakthrough computational modeling work, with a focus on how agent-based modeling can help explain human behavior as well as make strides in the public health field. Read More

Agent-based Models, Public Health, Quality-of-Life Issues

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioA Hybrid Epidemic Model: Combining the Advantages of Agent-based and Equation-based Approaches

Georgiy Bobashev, Joshua M. Epstein, D. Michael Goedecke and Feng Yu, Winter 2007, Winter Simulation Conference

With Feng Yu, Brookings Senior Fellow Joshua M. Epstein and Nonresident Fellows Georgiy V. Bobashev and D. Michael Goedecke introduce a hybrid Agent-based and Equation-based model that can dramatically save time and can better describe epidemiological processes involving human behavioral response. Read More

Social Norms, Agent-based Models

RESEARCH AND COMMENTARY

Save to My PortfolioA Flexible, Large-Scale, Distributed Agent Based Epidemic Model

Jon Parker, December 2007, CSED Working Paper No. 52

Jon Parker describes a distributed agent-based epidemic model that is capable of easily simulating several hundred million agents and discusses the overall design of the model. Read More

Agent-based Models

PAST EVENT

Save to My PortfolioAgent-Based Modeling and Spatial Population Dynamics Workshop

Friday, December 07, 2007
12:00 PM to 05:00 PM
Washington, DC

The Brookings Center on Social and Economic Dynamics and the Metropolitan Policy Program jointly hosted an NICHD funded Agent Based Modeling and Spatial Population Dynamics Workshop at the Brookings Institution. Researchers from across the country attended the workshop to discuss current projects, to gain insight into agent-based modeling, and to unearth issues for future research collaboration. Read More

Demographics, Social Norms, Migration, Agent-based Models

In Brief

The Agent-based Computational Modeling (ABM) technique pioneered at Brookings is an effective public policy research tool for complex social systems. ABM rigorously incorporates rich and diverse human behaviors; facilitates interdisciplinary research and stakeholder participation; and provides an efficient test-bed for the simulation of public policy interventions.

Featured Experts

Joshua M. Epstein

Joshua M. Epstein

Director, Center on Social and Economic Dynamics

A pioneer in agent-based computational modeling, Josh Epstein has recently done groundbreaking work on epidemics and bioterrorism. He has used computational modeling to study civil violence and smoking behavior.  


Read More

H. Peyton Young

H. Peyton Young

Senior Fellow, Economic Studies

Peyton Young is an expert on social norms and how they affect the design of policy. He has also written extensively on political representation, voting, and distributive justice. He is the James Meade Professor of Economics at Oxford University.
Read More

Ross A. Hammond

Ross A. Hammond

Fellow, Economic Studies

Ross Hammond’s expertise is in modeling complex dynamics of social, economic, and political systems using mathematical and agent-based computational methods. His current research topics include corruption, ethnocentrism, trust, behavioral epidemiology, and obesity.
Read More

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Q&A with Josh Epstein

Computational Modeling

"A high school math teacher in Omaha, Nebraska should be interested in the work at the Center on Social and Economic Dynamics because it makes the study of social dynamics fascinating ... And it’ll make kids thrilled with questions like, how do epidemics spread, how do fads start and stop, what are the spatial dynamics of disease, of violence, of all sorts of things .. "

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Spotlight

Research Project21st Century Defense Initiative

The 21st Century Defense Initiative produces cutting-edge research, analysis, and outreach that address some of the most critical issues facing leaders shaping defense policy in the coming century. The initiative focuses on three core issues: the future of war, the future of U.S. defense needs and priorities, and the future of the U.S. defense system

Policy CenterJohn L. Thornton China Center

The John L. Thornton China Center develops analysis and policy recommendations to help address key long-term challenges, both in terms of U.S.-China relations and China's internal development.

ExpertMartin Neil Baily

Martin Baily, a former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, focuses on issues of globalization, productivity and competitiveness, Social Security reform and U.S. economic policy.

ExpertSarah A. Binder

Sarah Binder is an expert on Congress and legislative politics.  She is completing a project on the politics of advice and consent, and is at work on the politics of how Congress responds to financial crises.

Policy CenterCenter on Children and Families

The Center on Children and Families studies policies on the well-being of America's children and their parents and seeks a more effective means of addressing poverty, inequality and lack of opportunity in the United States.

TopicEducation

The economic and political well-being of any democracy requires a well-educated citizenry. Brookings’s work has extended beyond the K-12 bookends to include pre-school interventions and issues in higher education. Experts are tackling fundamental issues on the role of education in the national and global economy.

Policy CenterCenter on the United States and Europe

The Center on the U.S. and Europe is dedicated to the study of Europe and U.S.-Europe relations. It involves American and European experts in an active program of research, analysis, and debate.

ExpertVanda Felbab-Brown

Vanda Felbab-Brown focuses on the national security implications of illicit economies and strategies for managing them. She is a security studies professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service.

ProgramGovernance Studies

Governance Studies explores political institutions of the United States and other democracies to assess how they govern, how their practices compare and how citizens and public servants can advance sound governance.

ProgramMetropolitan Policy Program

Redefining the challenges facing metropolitan America and promoting innovative solutions to help communities grow in more inclusive, competitive and sustainable ways.

TopicHealth Care

Brookings is committed to producing innovative policy solutions to our nation’s most difficult challenges. The country may face no more important domestic policy challenge than the much-needed reform of our health care system. Through an institution-wide effort, Brookings delivers new ideas and offers policy solutions to improve health care both at home and globally.

Research ProjectAfrica Growth Initiative

The Africa Growth Initiative conducts high-quality policy research and analysis focused on attaining sustainable economic development and prosperity in Africa, while amplifying the voice of African researchers in policy-making and planning.

Research ProjectBudgeting for National Priorities

The Budgeting for National Priorities project promotes greater fiscal responsibility by developing new ideas, educating the public and finding common ground among experts and policy-makers.

ExpertEswar Prasad

Eswar Prasad, who holds the New Century Chair in International Economics, is a senior fellow in Global Economy and Development. He is the Tolani Senior Professor of Trade Policy at Cornell University and was previously head of the Financial Studies Division and the China Division at the IMF.

ExpertRobert Puentes

Robert Puentes focuses on the broad array of policies and issues related to metropolitan growth and development. He is an expert on transportation and infrastructure, urban planning, growth management, suburban issues and housing.

TopicMigration

Migration is an issue that bridges Brookings’s expertise in domestic and foreign policy. In the United States, reforming immigration policy remains a subject of intense political debate. Globally, the unprecedented movement of people across borders raises issues in both industrialized countries and the developing world.