This second book on financial and economic simulations in Swarm marks
the continued progress by a group of researchers to incorporate
agent-based computer models as an important tool within their disci-
pline. It is encouraging to see such a clear example of Swarm helping to
foster a community of users who rely on the Swarm framework for their
own analyses. Swarm aims at legitimizing agent-based computer models as
a tool for the study of complex systems. A further goal is that a common
base framework will lead to the growth of user communities in specific
areas of application. By providing an organizing framework to guide the
development of more problem-specific structures, and by dealing with a
whole range of issues that affect their fundamental correctness and
their ability to be developed and reused, Swarm has sought to make the
use of agent-based models a legitimate tool of scientific investigation
that also meets the practical needs of investigators within a community.