Cournot equilibrium as emergent behavior in a nonrenewable resource agent-based model

In a simple agent-based model of a small oligopoly nonrenewable natural resource model, the agents, communicating solely through the market price, sometimes exhibit collusion-like behavior, sometimes Cournot-like behavior. The collusion-like behavior is shown to arise when di erences between the agents are small. Conversely, the Cournot-like behavior is shown to result from di erences in production decisions based on di erences in the agents. Close examination of the Cournot-like behavior indicates that the outcome results from a misinterpretation of market price response. This motivates investigation into how additional qualitative information about the market leads to quantitative improvements in the estimated marginal price. (JEL Q32)