Economic Models
Survey of foundational and emerging economic modeling approaches highlighting how interactive, HCI‑driven models seed grassroots transformation.
1. Origins & Interactive Explorations
Predator–Prey Virtual Analog: Your early web app used coupled differential equations to illustrate resource–consumer cycles, sparking insights into feedback loops and oscillatory dynamics.
Link: Predator–Prey Simulator
Key Insight: Simple, interactive visual models can turn abstract equations into embodied learning experiences, revealing non‑linear behaviors and stability boundaries.
2. System Dynamics Foundations
Jay Forrester’s Legacy: Founder of system dynamics—pioneered feedback‑loop modeling for industrial, urban, and ecological systems.
Donella Meadows & The Limits to Growth: Applied system‑dynamics simulations to global resource use, demonstrating overshoot, collapse, and leverage points for sustainability.
Tools & Practices:
Vensim / InsightMaker for stocks & flows
Causal loop diagramming workshops to map economic feedbacks
3. Doughnut Economics: A New Paradigm
Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Model: Defines a safe and just space for humanity between social foundation and ecological ceiling. Doughnut Economics Action Lab
HCI & Grassroots Impact: Interactive online dashboards and participatory workshops empower communities to localize the Doughnut framework.
Case Example: Amsterdam’s Doughnut City initiative—mapping local data onto the doughnut and co-designing action plans.
4. Modeling Snapshots
Agent Variables (Predator–Prey): { preyPop: number, predatorPop: number, growthRate: %, predationRate: % }
System Dynamics Loop (Doughnut): Stock: socialCapital; Flow: investment; Constraint: resourceCeiling; Feedback: regulatoryPolicy
Hybrid Approaches: Combining ABM agents for market behaviors with SD loops for macro‑economic flows.
5. Interactive Tools & Resources
Web Simulators: NetLogo predator–prey models, InsightMaker Doughnut templates.
Visualization Libraries: D3.js for live dashboards; P5.js for rhythmic fractal economics visualizations.
Community Platforms: GitHub repos, Miro boards, and Slack channels for open‑source economic model collaboration.
6. Integrating VIM & Doughnut Economics for Trustworthy AI
By combining VIM’s four domains with Doughnut Economics’ grassroots framing, communities can co-design AI ecosystems that stay within both social and planetary boundaries:
Embodied Interaction Workshops: Local labs where participants use biofeedback and VR experiences to sense AI’s impact on wellbeing, grounding abstract AI risks in felt reality.
Relational Mapping Dashboards: Community-curated AI impact maps that track data flows, bias hotspots, and communication norms against the Doughnut’s social foundation and ecological ceiling.
Ethical Alignment Canvases: Values-driven forums where stakeholders identify “shadow” AI harms (e.g., surveillance, disinformation) and prototype restorative feedback loops to realign models.
Adaptive Learning Sprints: Participatory simulations and hackathons where open-source AI models are iteratively tuned on local datasets, with metrics tied to Doughnut indicators like digital inclusion, data sovereignty, and carbon footprint.
Transformative Potential: This synergy empowers decentralized, human-centered AI governance—melding the rigors of system modeling with grassroots empathy to create resilient, equitable, and energy-efficient AI systems that honor universal wellbeing.
7. Further Reading & References
Forrester, J. W. (1961). Industrial Dynamics.
Meadows, D. H., Meadows, D. L., & Randers, J. (1972). The Limits to Growth.
Raworth, K. (2017). Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st‑Century Economist.
Sterman, J. D. (2000). Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World.
Fishwick, P. A. (2007). “Modeling, Simulation, and Graphics for Economics Education.” Simulation & Gaming, 38(4), 432–449.
Wilensky, U., & Rand, W. (2015). An Introduction to Agent‑Based Modeling: Modeling Natural, Social, and Engineered Complex Systems with NetLogo.
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