Jasmina Arifovic
Professor of Economics, Simon Fraser University, BC Canada
CANCELED
The seminar is CANCELED. We hope to reschedule this talk in the future.
We describe a new and different behavioral model for individuals playing in a repeated situation. It is based on a flexible learning process and called Individual Evolutionary Learning (IEL). Our model does not require calibration and can be used as a computer testbed to study the probable performance of a wide range of mechanisms over a wide range of environments prior to testing them in a laboratory or using them in practice. We illustrate the utility of the testbed approach by analyzing an open question in mechanism design - the dynamics of Groves-Ledyard mechanisms. Contrary to standard theories, the prediction from the IEL behavioral model is that the average time to convergence varies smoothly and is U-shaped in the mechanism’s free parameter. We validate the results from the testbed with data from economic experiments with humans. The paper is available at http://www.sfu.ca/~arifovic/jajlgl.pdf
Jasmina Arifovic is a professor of economics and Director of the Centre for Research in Adaptive Behaviour in Economics at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada. She received a B.A. in economics from University of Sarajevo (1981), and a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Chicago (1991). Her previous academic positions have included assistant professor at McGill University (1990-1993) and assistant professor at Simon Fraser University (1993-1997). Prof. Arifovic's main teaching areas are macroeconomic theory, monetary theory and computational economics. Her research interests focus on adaptive behavior of economic agents and experimental economics. She is currently working on an evolutionary model of currency crisis, laboratory experiments with the expectational Phillips curve, comparison of performance of adaptive and rational agents, and tacit coordination games. More information is available at http://www.sfu.ca/~arifovic/