> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://kdoore.gitbook.io/vital-intelligence/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://kdoore.gitbook.io/vital-intelligence/applications-and-extensions/economic-models.md).

# Economic Models

### 1. Origins & Interactive Explorations

* **Predator–Prey Virtual Analog:** an interactive web app used coupled differential equations to illustrate resource–consumer cycles, sparking insights into feedback loops and oscillatory dynamics.
  * [*Link:* Predator–Prey Simulator](http://visuals.kdoore.com/)
* **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](https://doughnuteconomics.org/about-doughnut-economics)
* **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.

### Grassroots Economics: 

{% embed url="<https://willruddick.substack.com/p/grassroots-economics-the-book-is>" %}

***

### 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*.
* J. Sterman, “System Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division, Working Paper, May 2002. Accessed: Nov. 15, 2025. \[Online]. Available: <https://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/102741>
* 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*.
* K. Doore and P. Fishwick, “Prototyping an analog computing representation of predator prey dynamics,” in *Proceedings of the Winter Simulation Conference 2014*, Dec. 2014, pp. 3561–3571a. doi:[10.1109/WSC.2014.7020186](https://doi.org/10.1109/WSC.2014.7020186).
* <https://willruddick.substack.com/p/grassroots-economics-the-book-is>