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Evolution of the Week

Author

Listed:
  • Amy Peng

    (Department of Economics, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada)

  • Francis McKenna

    (Ontario Ministry of Finance, Toronto, Canada)

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide an intuitive explanation of the emergence and evolution of the week based on a historical precedent draw from ancient Egypt. In this paper, we view the week as a coordinating social institution that was created to resolve a fundamental problem of society - coordinating market exchange. Artificial adaptive agents are used to simulate the interactions among farmers going to market. The results show that the length of the week that emerges depends on the chosen cost and benefit specifications and random interactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Amy Peng & Francis McKenna, 2009. "Evolution of the Week," Working Papers 012, Toronto Metropolitan University, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:rye:wpaper:wp012
    as

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    File URL: https://www.arts.ryerson.ca/economics/repec/pdfs/wp012.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Young, H Peyton, 1993. "The Evolution of Conventions," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 61(1), pages 57-84, January.
    2. Arthur, W Brian, 1994. "Inductive Reasoning and Bounded Rationality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 84(2), pages 406-411, May.
    3. Holland, John H & Miller, John H, 1991. "Artificial Adaptive Agents in Economic Theory," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 81(2), pages 365-371, May.
    4. Epstein, Joshua M, 2001. "Learning to Be Thoughtless: Social Norms and Individual Computation," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 18(1), pages 9-24, August.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    social institution; coordination games; agent based models;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D02 - Microeconomics - - General - - - Institutions: Design, Formation, Operations, and Impact
    • B52 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - Historical; Institutional; Evolutionary; Modern Monetary Theory;
    • C63 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Mathematical Methods; Programming Models; Mathematical and Simulation Modeling - - - Computational Techniques

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