|
Fields of interestIntegrated AssessmentModels / Download SDIAM Alternative Approaches in Economics Integrated Assessment Integrated assessment (IA) of climate change aims at considering and assessing this phenomenon in all dimensions. In contrast to considering only particular aspects from a single-disciplinary perspective, IA focuses on the combination, interpretation and communication of disciplinary research. IA should
Research in IA roughly separates into two branches. The first examines the process of integrated assessments in (political) decision making. It aims at identifying possible promoting and obstructing factors, and at investigating the actual consequences of IA processes on the political or personal behaviour of the involved persons. This branch is mainly worked on by political and social scientists. The second main branch of IA research is numerical modelling. By coupling submodels from natural sciences, economics and other fields it is hoped to arrive at conclusions with societal and economic relevance. This branch is mainly populated by economists and natural scientists. In the GELENA project we examine how producers and consumers can interact in a social process to develop climate-friendly goods. The main focus is on the investigation of this participatory product development process. My particular task is to develop numerical models in order to support the participants in their individual integrated assessments within the product development process. I am also interested in advancing existing numerical IA models and their methodology. In particular, I have just started to work on implementing ideas of evolutionary economics in integrated models. Models SDIAM (Structural Dynamic Integrated Assessment Model): One of the new approaches of SDIAM is the explicit consideration of diverging perceptions of welfare of entrepreneurs and society. This allows to assess (climate protection) measures from different perspectives in a rigorous way. Possible lines of conflict can thus be better analysed than in comparable models. Visit the SDIAM download page. SDEM (Structural Dynamic Economic Model): In SDEM the workers' struggle for higher wages is explicitly modelled. The resulting wage pressure leads to profit erosion, from which the entrepreneur may only escape by applying a combination of rationalisation and capital growth. These are key elements of past and recent economic change and can well be described using this approach. Alternative Approaches in Economics Common economic models (and also SDEM and SDIAM) are based on the assumption that economic actors always maximise their individual welfare, follow rational principles. and are completely informed about all available alternatives (options). The paradigm for these assumptions is the homo oeconomicus. Despite its wide acceptance in economics, intuition as well as results of behavioural and experimenatl economics tell us that real-worl people often (if not usually) act differently from what homo oeconomicus would have done. One of the first nisights was, that it is generally impossible to assess all available options, both because it is almost impossible to know the available options, and also because of limitations in human cognitive capacity to assess them (bounded rationality, H. Simon). Until now, a large number of cognitive biases has been observed and substantiated (see Wikipedia's List of cognitive biases). While behavioural economics often sticks to neoclassical methods (only changing the employes assumptions), there are some approaches that go one step further. Evolutionary economics, for example assumes that behaviour is usually driven by rules and traditions, which result in generally suboptimal solutions. These are, however, usually efficient enough to allow for more or less comfortable survival on the market. These rules are generally reviewed only in times of crisis; this review may, however, involve optimising techniques. If the resulting search for better procedures is successful, the actor remains present in the economy, otherwise she disappears. Another approach is followed by ecologial economics. Here, nature is attributed an intrinsic value, which is respected by economic actors, thereby limiting the available options. In the light of sustainable development, this limit may be extended to social issues. The advantage of this approach lies, firstly, in its actor representation, which appears to be closer to reality. Thus, the predictions of conventional models can be verified. Additionally, new possibilities emerge to examine and model behaviour-related processes in economic activities. An example, which makes such models particularly interesting for IA studies, are learning processes that can lead to changed environmental behaviour and thus changed economic preferences and decisions.
|
||||||||||
Recommend pagePrint version Volker Barth · 09.12.08 | |||||||||||
Uni | Uni - Aktuelles | Uni - Studium | Uni - Einrichtungen | Uni - Impressum | Uni - Suche |