Over the years, we have been creating synthetic populations that try and mimic the populations which we are trying to study. To some extent this fits a large research area which has become known as Agent-Based Computational Demography (ABCD). As I keep looking for work realted to ABCD I thought i would write a short blog post on it. First off, for a good overview ABCD readers are refered to the edited book:
Billari, F.C. and Prskawetz, A. (eds.) 2003. Agent-based computational demography: Using simulation to improve our understanding of demographic behaviour. Springer.
And a more recent book:
Grow, A., & Van Bavel, J. (eds.). (2017). Agent-based modelling in population studies. Springer.
Other interesting papers relating to ABCD include a JASSS article entitled "When Demography Met Social Simulation: A Tale of Two Modelling Approaches" which showcases how demography and agent-based modeling can be linked using the UK as an example. For interested readers, our own work on synthetic populations can be found here.
