Publication Type:
Book Chapter
Source:
Advanced Agent Technology, Springer, Volume 7068, Number 7068, Berlin / Heidelberg, p.35-49 (2012)
ISBN:
978-3-642-27215-8
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27216-5_4
Keywords:
electronic institutions;
simulation tools;
decision support;
multiagent systems
Abstract:
Water is an essential and scarce resource. This motivates the development of technologies to make water use more efficient. One such proposal has been to deploy institutional frameworks, (referred to as water banks) where water rights may be exchanged more freely and thus foster better water use. Needless to say that good water management is a complex endeavor and the decision to enable a water bank is but one of many actions that policy-makers may take. However, having a water bank is a specially useful device. Once a water bank is enabled, policy-makers may regulate how trading is made and by so doing, have a direct influence on demand and with that foster a good use of water. In this paper, we present a decision-support environment constructed around a water-rights market. It is designed so that policy-makers may explore the interplay between i) market regulations, ii) trader profiles and market composition, and iii) the aggregated outcomes of trading under those set conditions. Our environment is designed as a multi-agent system that implements market regulations and is enabled with tools to specify performance indicators, to spawn agent populations and allow humans as well as software agents to participate in simulations of virtual trading.
Notes:
springerlink:10.1007/978-3-642-27216-5_4
