Perhaps complexity is not in the quantity of the agents, but the quantity of the rules each agent must obey.
So what are the requirements and rules of a free market? My guess of an incomplete set are: OBSERVATIONS: The grass is greener on the other side. If I have an orange tree and you have an apple tree, at some point I'm going to value your apples more than my oranges, and you will value my oranges more than your apples. REQUIREMENTS: Ownership = Control = the right to trade it. Property rights and its legal registration must exist. The agents must know who owns what. If two agents own the same thing, some system must exist to resolve conflicts. RULES: 1) Right to refuse. One person can propose a trade and another person can refuse or counter propose. If no trade occurs, neither is worse off. If a trade does happen, by definition both parties must be happier. No third party observer is allowed to have an opinion. 2) Trade is honest. If a swap was made under false pretense or any form of coercion then no trade occurred. The swap must be undone. Compare these rules to air traffic management. -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Jochen Fromm Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2009 12:53 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Agent-based market models I found this link on markets today: it says it is precisely the less complex systems that can be planned and the more complex systems that must develop spontaneously. Quite paradox. http://www.libertarianism.org/ex-9.html It says nothing about the invisible hand from Adam Smith, though. Do you think we have an agent-based model which explains the self-regulating nature of markets ? -J. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
