Self-Organized Markets in a Decentralized Economy

A model of decentralized trade is simulated with firms that produce a given commodity, and consumers who repeatedly wish to purchase one unit of that commodity. Consumers “shop around,” while firms may attract the attention of potential customers by sending information signals and offering good service. We use a combination of genetic algorithms and classifier systems to model each individual agent separately as a “machine.” The questions examined are: In how far do these individual agents create opportunities to trade? How does the information concerning these opportunities spread through the economy? And to what extent are these opportunities traded away? In other words, how do self-organized markets emerge in the economy, and what are their characteristics?