Agent-Based Modelling in Population Studies Concepts , Methods , and Applications

Demography has a strong track record in the numerical monitoring of national population flows and structures. However, progress in theories that explicate the processes and mechanisms underlying these flows and structures remains limited. One reason why the development of population theory has been lagging behind may be that a specific concept of population has dominated our field. This conventional concept has greatly stimulated the development of national human bookkeeping, but this may have been at the expense of a more in-depth investigation of populations evolving through different kinds of interactions between individuals in very heterogeneous and partly overlapping subgroups and networks. As the chapters in this volume illustrate, agent-based modelling may help demographers to bridge the gap between the conventional and an alternative approach to population, combining the advantages and limitations of both. We argue that this may stimulate notably an evolutionary approach to population theory. In this way, demography may establish itself more firmly as a bridge between the social and biological sciences.