Model reduction for agent-based social simulation: Coarse-graining a civil violence model

Yu Zou, Vladimir A. Fonoberov, Maria Fonoberova, Igor Mezic, Ioannis G. Kevrekidis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Scopus citations

Abstract

Agent-based modeling (ABM) constitutes a powerful computational tool for the exploration of phenomena involving emergent dynamic behavior in the social sciences. This paper demonstrates a computer-assisted approach that bridges the significant gap between the single-agent microscopic level and the macroscopic (coarse-grained population) level, where fundamental questions must be rationally answered and policies guiding the emergent dynamics devised. Our approach will be illustrated through an agent-based model of civil violence. This spatiotemporally varying ABM incorporates interactions between a heterogeneous population of citizens [active (insurgent), inactive, or jailed] and a population of police officers. Detailed simulations exhibit an equilibrium punctuated by periods of social upheavals. We show how to effectively reduce the agent-based dynamics to a stochastic model with only two coarse-grained degrees of freedom: the number of jailed citizens and the number of active ones. The coarse-grained model captures the ABM dynamics while drastically reducing the computation time (by a factor of approximately 20).

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number066106
JournalPhysical Review E - Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics
Volume85
Issue number6
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 8 2012

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
  • Statistics and Probability

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