Asset Exchange Model Package Documents

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Main Document

Asset Exchange Model Package 

written by Wolfgang Christian, Jan Tobochnik, and Harvey Gould

The EjsS Asset Exchange Model Package contains JavaScript models to investigate the transfer of wealth in a simple economic model consisting of N buyers and sellers, known as agents, who spend their time buying and selling goods at a yard sale. In this economic model, two agents A and B are chosen at random and goods are exchanged. If the price of the item is correct, neither agent gains or loses wealth but this is uninteresting and unrealistic. In a realistic transaction an agent can either pay too much or get a bargain so that one agent becomes slightly richer while the other agent becomes poorer. What happens to the wealth of agent A if this process is repeated many times and if we assume that the agent receiving the bargain is chosen at random so that sometimes agent A gains and sometimes agent A loses in the transaction. In other words, neither agent is always shrewd or always gullible so that all agents have an equal chance of getting rich. Does this model produce an equitable distribution of wealth?


This item is also available as an AAPT/ComPADRE book and in Apple iTunes.  The supplemental documents section has a download link for an ePub 3 book.

The EjsS Asset Exchange Model Package was developed using the Easy Java/JavaScript Simulations (EjsS) version 5 authoring tool.  Although EjsS is a Java program, it can create stand alone JavaScript programs that run in almost any PC or tablet.

Published August 29, 2014
Last Modified August 19, 2015

This file has previous versions.

Primary Documents (3)

Modeling Wealth Inequality ePub 

An ePub containing the simulations and narrative for the Modeling Wealth Inequality book.  Use an ePub 3 reader that supports Math ML and JavaScript, such as the iBooks Reader on Apple devices or the Gitden on Android.  The ePub is also available in Apple iTunes.

Released under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 license.

Last Modified February 24, 2016

This file has previous versions.

Modeling Wealth Inequality 

This pdf is a static version of the Modeling Wealth Inequality ePub that includes links to the ComPADRE ready-to-run models.

Last Modified April 1, 2016

Modeling Wealth Inequality Android App 

Modeling Wealth Inequality simulations packaged as a stand-alone Android App.

Last Modified August 25, 2016

This file has previous versions.

Source Code Documents

Asset Exchange Model Source Code 

Asset Exchange Model source code archive contains an XML representation of models used to create the Modeling Wealth Inequality EPub.

Last Modified October 18, 2023

This file has previous versions.