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Economics & Social Systems

Game theory, urban growth, traffic dynamics and social behaviour — model complex socioeconomic systems with interacting agents.

8 simulations Canvas 2D · WebGL Uses Agent-Based, Cellular Automata, Nash

Economics Simulations

Open a simulation — it runs right in your browser, no installation needed

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Popular ★☆☆ Beginner
Game Theory
Prisoner's Dilemma with configurable payoff matrix. Play against strategies like tit-for-tat, always defect, random, or pavlov. Watch cooperation and betrayal unfold over hundreds of rounds.
Canvas 2D Nash Payoff Matrix
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★★☆ Moderate
Evolutionary Game Theory
Hawk-Dove game with replicator dynamics. Strategies compete on a grid: watch how cooperative or aggressive behaviours spread through a population based on fitness payoffs.
Canvas 2D Replicator Hawk-Dove
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★☆☆ Beginner
Schelling Segregation
Thomas Schelling's model of residential segregation. Even mild preferences for similar neighbours produce striking spatial clustering. Adjust tolerance threshold and watch patterns emerge.
Canvas 2D Agent-Based Segregation
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★☆☆ Beginner
Traffic Simulation
Cars on a highway following gap-based acceleration and braking logic. Observe how phantom traffic jams form spontaneously from minor perturbations at high density.
Canvas 2D Agent-Based Traffic
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★★☆ Moderate
NaSch Traffic Model
Nagel-Schreckenberg cellular automaton for highway traffic. Stochastic braking produces backward-moving density waves — phantom jams from deterministic rules plus noise.
Canvas 2D NaSch Cellular Automaton
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★☆☆ Beginner
City Growth
Diffusion-limited aggregation model of urban development. Buildings attach at the city perimeter, creating fractal growth patterns that mirror real urban sprawl morphology.
Canvas 2D DLA Urban Growth
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★★☆ Moderate
Pedestrian Flow
Social force model with collision avoidance and group behaviour. Watch lane formation in corridors, jamming at narrow exits, and the faster-is-slower effect.
Canvas 2D Social Force Crowd
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New ★★★ Hard
Solow Growth Model
Y = Kᵅ(AL)¹⁻ᵅ production function with capital accumulation. Adjust savings rate, depreciation and technology growth to see steady-state convergence and the golden rule savings rate.
Macroeconomics Growth Theory Canvas 2D
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★☆☆ Beginner New
Supply & Demand
Shift supply and demand curves with sliders. Watch the equilibrium price P* and quantity Q* respond instantly. Toggle price floors (minimum wage) or ceilings (rent control) to see surplus, shortage, and dead-weight loss areas appear.
Microeconomics Equilibrium Canvas 2D
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★☆☆ Beginner New
Inflation Simulator
See how money supply growth drives prices via the Quantity Theory of Money (MV=PQ). Model hyperinflation scenarios, central bank policy and the Phillips curve.
MV=PQ Monetary Policy Canvas 2D
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Ready ★★★ Advanced
Market Microstructure
Live order book simulation: bid and ask limit orders arrive, cancel and match via a continuous double auction. Watch the bid-ask spread, depth histogram and price discovery in real time.
Order Book Bid-Ask Spread HFT Price Discovery
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New ★★☆ Moderate
Auction Dynamics
Compare English, Dutch, first-price sealed-bid and Vickrey auctions across hundreds of rounds. Test the revenue equivalence theorem and see how bidder count and value distributions affect outcomes.
English Auction Vickrey Revenue Equivalence

About Economics & Social Systems Simulations

Agents, strategies, and emergence — from Nash equilibria to urban patterns

Economics and social systems simulations model how individual agents, each following simple local rules, create complex collective phenomena — from rush-hour traffic jams to residential segregation patterns. These agent-based models demonstrate that macroscopic order can emerge from microscopic interactions without any central planner.

Game theory simulations let you explore the Prisoner's Dilemma and Hawk-Dove dynamics: watch how cooperation or aggression evolve through repeated interactions and payoff matrices. The evolutionary game theory model shows how strategies compete and spread in a population via replicator dynamics — the same framework biologists use to explain altruism in nature.

Urban simulations apply cellular automata to city growth (DLA diffusion-limited aggregation) and traffic (Nagel-Schreckenberg model). The Schelling segregation model proves that even mild individual preferences for similar neighbours produce stark spatial segregation — a powerful insight that changed urban sociology.

Key Concepts

Topics and algorithms you'll explore in this category

Nash EquilibriumA strategy profile where no player benefits from unilateral deviation
Replicator DynamicsSuccessful strategies reproduce proportionally in a population
Cellular AutomataGrid-based models with local update rules producing global patterns
Agent-Based ModellingIndividual agents with rules produce emergent collective behaviour
Schelling ModelMild residential preferences produce stark spatial segregation
Nagel-SchreckenbergStochastic braking produces phantom traffic jams

💰 Test Your Economics Knowledge

Five quick questions to check your understanding of economics concepts

Economics Quiz

Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about this simulation category

What is the Prisoner's Dilemma?
Two players simultaneously choose to cooperate or defect. Mutual cooperation gives the best collective outcome, but individual incentives push toward defection — creating a Nash equilibrium where both defect. The simulation lets you test strategies like tit-for-tat across iterated rounds.
How does the Schelling segregation model work?
Agents on a grid are 'happy' if at least a threshold fraction of their neighbours share their type. Unhappy agents move to a random empty cell. Even with a low preference threshold (e.g. 33%), the system rapidly self-organises into highly segregated clusters.
Why do phantom traffic jams form?
The Nagel-Schreckenberg model shows that random braking by one car propagates backward as a density wave. Cars behind must slow down in chain reaction, creating a stationary jam from nothing — exactly matching real-world traffic observations.

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