Riccardo Boero

Trust and Partner Selection in Social Networks: An Experimentally Grounded Model

This article investigates the importance of the endogenous selection of partners for trust and cooperation in market exchange situations, where there is information asymmetry between investors and trustees. We created an experimental-data driven agent-based model where the endogenous link between interaction outcome and social structure formation was examined starting from heterogeneous agent behaviour. By testing various social structure configurations, we showed that dynamic networks lead to more cooperation when agents can create more links and reduce exploitation opportunities by free riders. Furthermore, we found that the endogenous network formation was more important for cooperation than the type of network. Our results cast serious doubt about the static view of network structures on cooperation and can provide new insights into market efficiency.

Pillars of Trust: An Experimental Study on Reputation and Its Effects

This paper presents the results of laboratory experiments on the relevance of reputation for trust and cooperation in social interaction. We have extended a repeated investment game by adding new treatments where reputation is taken more explicitly into account than before. We then compared treatments where the investor and the trustee rate each other and treatments where the investor and the trustee were rated by a third party. The results showed that: (i) third party reputation positively affects cooperation by encapsulating trust; (ii) certain differences in the reputation mechanism can generate different cooperation outcomes. These results have interesting implications for the recent sociological debate on the normative pillars of markets.

Labor Market, Entrepreneurship And Human Capital In Industrial Districts. An Agent-Based Prototype

AbstractThe paper describes an agent-based prototype that has been created to investigate relations among local labor markets, entrepreneurship and human capital in industrial districts. It basically describes the building blocks of the prototype, the agents acting in it and the forces that drive its most interesting dynamics. Some interesting hypotheses to investigate are sketched, too.

Regional input–output tables and trade flows: an integrated and interregional non-survey approach

ABSTRACT Regional input–output tables and trade flows: an integrated and interregional non-survey approach. Regional Studies. Regional analyses require detailed and accurate information about dynamics happening within and between regional economies. However, regional input–output tables and trade flows are rarely observed and they must be estimated using up-to-date information. Common estimation approaches vary widely but consider tables and flows independently. By using commonly used economic assumptions and available economic information, this paper presents a method that integrates the estimation of regional input–output tables and trade flows across regions. Examples of the method implementation are presented and compared with other approaches, suggesting that the integrated approach provides advantages in terms of estimation accuracy and analytical capabilities.

Computable general equilibrium model fiscal year 2013 capability development report

This report provides an overview of the development of the NISAC CGE economic modeling capability since 2012. This capability enhances NISACs economic modeling and analysis capabilities to answer a broader set of questions than possible with previous economic analysis capability. In particular, CGE modeling captures how the different sectors of the economy, for example, households, businesses, government, etc., interact to allocate resources in an economy and this approach captures these interactions when it is used to estimate the economic impacts of the kinds of events NISAC often analyzes.

Agentenbasierte Modelle in der Soziologie

Dieser Beitrag zielt darauf ab zu illustrieren, wie agentenbasiertes Modellieren fur die Integration von Theorie und Empirie bei mechanismenbasierten Erklarungen hilfreich sein kann. Unser Ausgangspunkt ist, dass die Erforschung der MikroGrundlagen sozialer Resultate der wichtigste Stutzpfeiler bei Untersuchungen in der Analytischen Soziologie ist. Wenn Makro-Resultate auf Handlungen, Motivationen und Interaktionen von Individuen zuruckgefuhrt werden, kann die Soziologie weit informativere Erklarungen liefern als nur durch aggregierte Perspektiven (vgl. z.B. Bruch/Mare 2006: 667f).

Reputation as a carrier of trust in socio-economic systems: some experimental evidence

This paper presents the results of some laboratory experiments on the relevance of reputation for the emergence of trust and cooperation in socio-economic interaction. We have extended a repeated investment game adding new treatments where reputation is taken more explicitly into account than in the present literature. We compare treatments where the investor and the trustee rate each other and treatments where the investor and the trustee are rated by a third party. The results show that: (i) reputation impacts the behaviour of individuals even when it has no consequence on their payoffs; (ii) third party reputation positively affects cooperation by encapsulating trust; (iii) some differences in the reputation mechanism can generate different cooperation outcomes. These results have interesting implications on the recent sociological debate on the normative pillars of markets.