Emergence of heterogeneity in an agent-based model

TL;DR

This paper investigates how heterogeneity naturally develops among agents in a game-theoretic economy model where agents learn via neural networks, affecting overall performance.

Contribution

It introduces an agent-based model where heterogeneity emerges through learning in a minority-subsequently-majority game, highlighting its impact on economic performance.

Findings

Heterogeneity emerges spontaneously among agents.

Heterogeneity influences agents' payoffs and performance.

Learning dynamics lead to diverse agent behaviors.

Abstract

We study an interacting agent model of a game-theoretical economy. The agents play a minority-subsequently-majority game and they learn, using backpropagation networks, to obtain higher payoffs. We study the relevance of heterogeneity to performance, and how heterogeneity emerges.