The complex evolution of a simple traffic convention: the functions and implications of habit

Authored by GM Hodgson, T Knudsen

Date Published: 2004-05

DOI: 10.1016/j.jebo.2003.04.001

Sponsors: No sponsors listed

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Model Documentation: Other Narrative

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

This paper explores the evolution of a simple traffic convention concerning the side of the road on which to drive. This agent-based simulation probes some of the deeper Conceptual issues involved in the evolution of conventions, particularly the nature of rational decision-making and its possible reliance upon habit. The simulations show that the systemic convergence to a left/right convention is often improved or sustained by habit, alongside other “intelligent” and calculative attributes of agents. We show that habit formation is part of a possible mechanism of “reconstitutive downward causation” among agents where the preferences of each agent are partly malleable. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Tags

Agent-based model Evolution Institutions Conventions downward causation endogenous preferences habits rationality