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WorkSim: A Calibrated Agent-Based Model of the Labor Market Accounting for Workers' Stocks and Gross Flows

Author

Listed:
  • Olivier Goudet

    (SMA - Systèmes Multi-Agents - LIP6 - Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris 6 - UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Jean-Daniel Kant

    (SMA - Systèmes Multi-Agents - LIP6 - Laboratoire d'Informatique de Paris 6 - UPMC - Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris 6 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Gérard Ballot

    (CRED - Centre de Recherche en Economie et Droit - UP2 - Université Panthéon-Assas)

Abstract

This paper presents an agent-based model of the labor market. It simulates the market in the recent period at the aggregate level and at the level of the principal categories of labor, on the basis of the decisions of heterogeneous agents, firms and individuals, who interact. These decisions rely on individual computations of profits and utilities, although rationality is bounded in such a complex environment. The theoretical structure that underlies the decisions is the search concept. We apply this framework to the case of France in 2011. The model is at a scale of 1/4700. It is fairly detailed on the institutions of the labor market that constrain the agents' decisions. Finally it is calibrated by a powerful algorithm to reproduce a large number of variables of interest. The calibrated model presents a consistent accounting system of the gross flows of the individuals between the main states, employment, distinguishing open ended contracts and fixed duration contracts, unemployment and inactivity. The simulation of the gross flows accounts enables us to analyze the patterns of mobility in a way that the observed statistics on gross flows, which are partial, cannot do. The model then characterizes the nature of the labor market under study, reproducing the high proportion of the fixed duration contracts in the hiring flows, and it points to a dualism of the French labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivier Goudet & Jean-Daniel Kant & Gérard Ballot, 2016. "WorkSim: A Calibrated Agent-Based Model of the Labor Market Accounting for Workers' Stocks and Gross Flows," Post-Print hal-01510768, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01510768
    DOI: 10.1007/s10614-016-9577-0
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-01510768v1
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    2. Caner Ates & Dietmar Maringer, 2021. "A Parsimonious Macroeconomic ABM for Labor Market Regulations," LEM Papers Series 2021/46, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    3. Szymon Chudziak, 2025. "Studying economic complexity with agent-based models: advances, challenges and future perspectives," Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination, Springer;Society for Economic Science with Heterogeneous Interacting Agents, vol. 20(2), pages 413-449, April.
    4. Jiaqi Ge & Bernardo Alves Furtado, 2024. "Modelling urban transition with coupled housing and labour markets," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 51(3), pages 590-609, March.
    5. Christos Alexakis & Michael Dowling & Konstantinos Eleftheriou & Michael Polemis, 2021. "Textual Machine Learning: An Application to Computational Economics Research," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 57(1), pages 369-385, January.
    6. Jean-Daniel Kant & Olivier Goudet & Gérard Ballot, 2016. "An ex ante evaluation of economic dismissals facilitation on the French labor market: An agent-based model," Post-Print hal-01511169, HAL.

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