written by Wolfgang Christian, Jan Tobochnik, and Harvey Gould

This EJS JavaScript model compares two agent-based economic models with different wealth transaction rules (algorithms) and compares the resulting wealth distributions. Both models consists of N agents (economic actors such as a person, family, or a company) that make economic decisions. Interacting agents are chosen randomly so that each agent will, on average, participate in two transactions per time step in our toy economy.

In the Yard Sale Model (also called the Asset Exchange 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 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.   In the Sharing Model the the two agents first combine their wealth but then redistribute their shared wealth unevenly.  

Run these two models and observe the wealth distribution as the system evolves. Does either algorithm produce an equitable distribution of wealth?

• Download ejss_model_AEMComparison.zip - 269kb Compressed File

Published July 8, 2022
Last Modified October 17, 2022

This file has previous versions.

EJS JavaScript source code.

• Download ejss_src_AEMComparison.zip - 49kb Compressed File

Last Modified October 17, 2022

This file has previous versions.