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Reviewing agent-based modelling of socio-ecosystems: a methodology for the analysis of climate change adaptation and sustainability

Author

Listed:
  • Stefano Balbi

    (PhD Candidate in Analysis and Governance of Sustainable Development, Ca' Foscari University of Venice.)

  • Carlo Giupponi

    (Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Department of Economics Center for Environmental Economics and Management)

Abstract

The integrated - environmental, economic and social - analysis of climate change calls for a paradigm shift as it is fundamentally a problem of complex, bottom-up and multi-agent human behaviour. There is a growing awareness that global environmental change dynamics and the related socio-economic implications involve a degree of complexity that requires an innovative modelling of combined social and ecological systems. Climate change policy can no longer be addressed separately from a broader context of adaptation and sustainability strategies. A vast body of literature on agent-based modelling (ABM) shows its potential to couple social and environmental models, to incorporate the influence of micro-level decision making in the system dynamics and to study the emergence of collective responses to policies. However, there are few publications which concretely apply this methodology to the study of climate change related issues. The analysis of the state of the art reported in this paper supports the idea that today ABM is an appropriate methodology for the bottom-up exploration of climate policies, especially because it can take into account adaptive behaviour and heterogeneity of the system's components.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefano Balbi & Carlo Giupponi, 2009. "Reviewing agent-based modelling of socio-ecosystems: a methodology for the analysis of climate change adaptation and sustainability," Working Papers 2009_15, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    • Handle: RePEc:ven:wpaper:2009_15
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    1. Sarah Wolf & Steffen Fürst & Antoine Mandel & Wiebke Lass & Daniel Lincke & Federico Pablo-Marti & Carlo Jaeger, 2013. "A multi-agent model of several economic regions," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) halshs-00825217, HAL.
    2. Amadou, Mahamadou L. & Villamor, Grace B. & Kyei-Baffour, Nicholas, 2018. "Simulating agricultural land-use adaptation decisions to climate change: An empirical agent-based modelling in northern Ghana," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 196-209.
    3. J. Farmer & Cameron Hepburn & Penny Mealy & Alexander Teytelboym, 2015. "A Third Wave in the Economics of Climate Change," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 62(2), pages 329-357, October.
    4. Aurbacher, Joachim & Parker, Phillip S. & Calberto Sánchez, Germán A. & Steinbach, Jennifer & Reinmuth, Evelyn & Ingwersen, Joachim & Dabbert, Stephan, 2013. "Influence of climate change on short term management of field crops – A modelling approach," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 44-57.
    5. Hassani-Mahmooei, Behrooz & Parris, Brett W., 2013. "Resource scarcity, effort allocation and environmental security: An agent-based theoretical approach," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 183-192.
    6. Sylvie Geisendorf, 2018. "Evolutionary Climate-Change Modelling: A Multi-Agent Climate-Economic Model," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 52(3), pages 921-951, October.
    7. Julissa Alexandra Galarza-Villamar & Mariette McCampbell & Cees Leeuwis & Francesco Cecchi, 2021. "Adding Emergence and Spatiality to a Public Bad Game for Studying Dynamics in Socio-Ecological Systems (Part I): The Design of Musa-Game for Integrative Analysis of Collective Action in Banana Disease," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-21, August.
    8. Sylvie Geisendorf, 2016. "The impact of personal beliefs on climate change: the “battle of perspectives” revisited," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 551-580, July.
    9. Heuson, Clemens & Gawel, Erik & Gebhardt, Oliver & Hansjürgens, Bernd & Lehmann, Paul & Meyer, Volker & Schwarze, Reimund, 2012. "Fundamental questions on the economics of climate adaptation: Outlines of a new research programme," UFZ Reports 05/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
    10. Irene Monasterolo & Roberto Pasqualino & Anthony C. Janetos & Aled Jones, 2016. "Sustainable and Inclusive Food Systems through the Lenses of a Complex System Thinking Approach—A Bibliometric Review," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-13, September.
    11. Heuson, Clemens & Gawel, Erik & Gebhardt, Oliver & Hansjürgens, Bernd & Lehmann, Paul & Meyer, Volker & Schwarze, Reimund, 2012. "Ökonomische Grundfragen der Klimaanpassung: Umrisse eines neuen Forschungsprogramms," UFZ Reports 02/2012, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ).
    12. Frank Beckenbach & Ramón Briegel, 2010. "Multi-agent modeling of economic innovation dynamics and its implications for analyzing emission impacts," International Economics and Economic Policy, Springer, vol. 7(2), pages 317-341, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Review; Agent-Based Modelling; Socio-Ecosystems; Climate Change; Adaptation; Complexity.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Q - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics

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