The impact of network structure on the perturbation dynamics of a multi-agent economic model

Abstract

Complex adaptive systems (CAS) modeling has become a common tool to study the behavioral dynamics of agents in a broad range of disciplines from ecology to economics. Many modelers have studied structure's importance for a system in equilibrium, while others study the effects of perturbations on system dynamics. There is a notable absence of work on the effects of agent interaction pathways on perturbation dynamics. We present an agent-based CAS model of a competitive economic environment. We use this model to study the perturbation dynamics of simple structures by introducing a series of disruptive events and observing key system metrics. Then, we generate more complex networks by combining the simple component structures and analyze the resulting dynamics. We find the local network structure of a perturbed node to be a valuable indicator of the system response. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.