Human Development Dynamics: An Agent Based Simulation of Social Systems and Heterogeneous Evolutionary Games

Combining a system dynamics and agent based modeling approach, we formalize a simulation framework of the Human Development (HD) perspective. We first capture the core logic of HD theory in a asymmetric, coupled nonlinear system with empirically validated parameters from World Values Survey (WVS) data. Using evolutionary game theory, second we fuse these endogenously derived individual socio-economic attribute changes with Prisoner’s Dilemma in an agent based framework to model the interactive political-cultural effects of heterogeneous, spatial intra-societal economic transactions. We explore the model’s behavioral dynamics via simulation methods to identify paths and pitfalls towards economic development, cultural plasticity, and social change behavior. Our preliminary results suggest strong nonlinear path dependence in three areas: development processes, evolutionary intra-societal transactions and development trajectories, with significant implications for anticipating and managing positive development outcomes.