Abstract:
Demographic behaviour cannot be explained and understood in isolation from the social network one is linked to (e.g. Åberg 2003; Montgomery and Casterline 1996). These networks may consist of family members, friends and other peer groups which will have an impact through social learning and social influence on each other. However, the formalisation of such network effects to explain individual demographic behaviour lags behind the empirical evidence or is often simplified in terms of macro-level diffusion mechanisms that do not allow understanding the mechanisms of social network effects from the bottom up. Agent-based models allow to integrate such network effects into models of individual demographic decision processes and to build up the macro-level demographic patterns (e.g. aggregate fertility rates, marriage rates, etc.) from the bottom up.
Speaker:
Alexia Fürnkranz- Prskawetz is professor for mathematical economics at TU Wien and executive director of the Vienna Institute of Demography at the Austrian Academy of Sciences. She is of the pioneers of the application of agent-based models in population sciences.
Info:
This public keynote lecture is part of the short course “Agent-based modelling for social scientists” organized as part of ERC project Bayesian Agent-based Population Studies. The talk is co-hosted by the Centre for Population Change as part of the CPC webinar series.
Location:
This talk will be streamed via Zoom. Please register at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZEudeqorTstGNfGhtWSyHKNL6FPMi_9EZCO.