Abstract
We introduce a model for agent specialization in small-scale human societies that incorporates planning based on social influence and economic state. Agents allocate their time among available tasks based on exchange, demand, competition from other agents, family needs, and previous experiences. Agents exchange and request goods using barter, balanced reciprocal exchange, and generalized reciprocal exchange. We use a weight-based reinforcement model for the allocation of resources among tasks. The Village Ecodynamics Project (VEP) area acts as our case study, and the work reported here extends previous versions of the VEP agent-based model (Village). This model simulates settlement and subsistence practices in Pueblo societies of the central Mesa Verde region between A.D. 600 and 1300. In the base model on which we build here, agents represent households seeking to minimize their caloric costs for obtaining enough calories, protein, fuel, and water from a landscape which is always changing due to both exogenous factors (climate) and human resource use. Compared to the baseline condition of no specialization, specialization in conjunction with barter increases population wealth, global population size, and degree of aggregation. Differences between scenarios for specialization in which agents use only a weight-based model for time allocation among tasks, and one in which they also consider social influence, are more subtle. The networks generated by barter in the latter scenario exhibit higher clustering coefficients, suggesting that social influence allows a few agents to assume particularly influential roles in the global exchange network.
Highlights
1.1 Specialization is one way in which agents can increase their productivity ( Murciano and Zamora 1997) by cooperating with other individuals (Spencer, Couzin and Franks 1998) to generate increasing returns to scale
5.10 Along with an increase in the proportion of households living in larger communities, we observed a significant increase in barter under either of the scenarios promoting specialization, compared to the condition where agents allocate efforts based on their private subsistence requirements (Scenario 1)
When agents specialize, populations increase. These three results lead us to expect that the social networks that form from bartering of each of these resources will be markedly different among the three scenarios: when agents take into account only their needs (Scenario 1) and when they specialize (Scenarios 2 and 3)
Summary
1.1 Specialization is one way in which agents can increase their productivity ( Murciano and Zamora 1997) by cooperating with other individuals (Spencer, Couzin and Franks 1998) to generate increasing returns to scale (population size of social group). If agents may not be able to provide themselves with all the subsistence goods they need, they may trade for or request those resources through an exchange network.
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary 
Published Version (
Free)
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call