Do We Need Agent-Based Computational Demography?

Francesco C. Billari, Università Bocconi
Fausta Ongaro, Università di Padova
Alexia Fuernkranz-Prskawetz, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

A computational approach to the study of human behavior has developed---especially during the 1990s---through a vast quantity of literature. Agent-based computational models have become more and more used in the social sciences. Different to the approach based on statistical analysis of behavioral data that aim to understand why specific rules are applied by humans, agent-based computational models pre-suppose (realistic) rules of behavior and try to falsify the validity of these rules by showing whether they can or cannot explain regularities. In this paper, we argue that in order to study human populations, agent-based approaches are particularly useful from various theoretical perspectives. We thus urge demographers and other scholars interested in population studies to look at Agent-Based Computational Demography (ABCD) as a promising stream of research, that can improve our understanding of demographic behavior. We also shortly present some existing examples of application of agent-based modelling to demographic processes.