"The overall name of these interrelated structures is system. The motorcycle is a system. A real system. …There's so much talk about the system. And so little understanding. That's all a motorcycle is, a system of concepts worked out in steel. There's no part in it, no shape in it that is not in someone's mind. I've noticed that people who have never worked with steel have trouble seeing this- that the motorcycle is primarily a mental phenomenon."
- Robert Pirsig Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance
Feedback and Flow
Up to now we have modeled the decisions of individual agents. Now we will transition to thinking about modeling the behavior of systems as a whole. The system may be composed of many agents, each responding to environmental conditions which may be effects their behavior (that is, they may be subject to feedback). We will start with difference equations and then slide into stock and flow models and systems dynamics.
Class 1 Math prereqs; system behaviors; difference equations Slides (PDF,PPTX, KEY)
Prep
- Review Using Subscripts if mathematical subscripts are not familiar
- Stokey & Zeckhauser, pp. 47-58
- Ryan: Difference Equations, An Introduction
- Problems: 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 5
Class 2 Equilibria
Prep
- Stokey & Zeckhauser, pp. 58-66
- Ryan: "Rates and Amounts"
- Ryan: "Equilibria"
- Problems: 107 | 108 | 109 | 110 | 111 | 5 (WITH full charts, etc.)
Lab Difference Equations
Prep
- TBA
Class 3 From difference equations to stock, flow, and feedback (Slides: pdf | pptx | key)
Prep
- Stokey & Zeckhauser, pp. 66-73
- Ryan: Stock and Flow Models
- Ryan: Stock and Flow Models II
- Wikipedia Stock and Flow and Systems Dynamics Models
- Kirkwood, Ch. 1 "System Behavior and Causal Loops"
- Problems: 132,134,135
Class 4 Systems dynamics simulation (Slides: PDF, PPTX, KEY)
Prep
- Kirkwood, Ch. 2 "A Modeling Approach"
- Problems: TBA
Lab Stock and Flow Models
Prep
- Stokey & Zeckhauser, pp. 89-97