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Breaking open the black box of the production function: an agent-based model accounting for time in production processes

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Listed:
  • Jack Birner
  • Marco Mazzoli
  • Eleonora Priori
  • Pietro Terna

Abstract

Traditional notions of production function do not consider the time dimension, appearing thus timeless and instantaneous. We propose an agent-based model accounting for the whole production side of the economy to unfold the production process from its very beginning, when firms receive production orders, to the delivery of the products to the market. In the model we analyze with a high-degree of details how heterogeneous firms, having labor and capital as productive factors, behave along all the realization processes of their outputs. The main focus covers: i) the heterogeneous duration of firms' production processes, ii) the adaptive strategies they implement to adjust their choices, and iii) the possible failures which may occur due to the duration of the production. Our agent-based model is a controlled experiment: we use a virtual central planner mechanism, which acts as the demand side of the economy, to observe which firm individual behaviors and aggregate macroeconomic outcomes emerge as a reply to its different behaviors in a ceteris paribus environment. Our applied goal, then, is to discuss the role of industrial policy by modeling production processes in detail.

Suggested Citation

  • Jack Birner & Marco Mazzoli & Eleonora Priori & Pietro Terna, 2024. "Breaking open the black box of the production function: an agent-based model accounting for time in production processes," Papers 2405.07103, arXiv.org.
    • Handle: RePEc:arx:papers:2405.07103
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Giovanni Dosi & Marco Grazzi & Luigi Marengo & Simona Settepanella, 2016. "Production Theory: Accounting for Firm Heterogeneity and Technical Change," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 64(4), pages 875-907, December.
    2. Mazzoli,Marco & Morini,Matteo & Terna,Pietro, 2019. "Rethinking Macroeconomics with Endogenous Market Structure," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108482608, October.
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