New Directions in Computational Economics brings together for the
first time a diverse selection of papers, sharing the underlying theme
of application of computing technology as a tool for achieving solutions
to realistic problems in computational economics and related areas in
the environmental, ecological and energy fields.
Part I of the volume addresses experimental and computational issues in
auction mechanisms, including a survey of recent results for sealed bid
auctions. The second contribution uses neural networks as the basis for
estimating bid functions for first price sealed bid auctions. Also
presented is the `smart market' computational mechanism which better
matches bids and offers for natural gas.
Part II consists of papers that formulate and solve models of economics
systems. Amman and Kendrick's paper deals with control models and the
computational difficulties that result from nonconvexities. Using goal
programming, Nagurney, Thore and Pan formulate spatial resource
allocation models to analyze various policy issues. Thompson and Thrall
next present a rigorous mathematical analysis of the relationship
between efficiency and profitability. The problem of matching uncertain
streams of assets and liabilities is solved using stochastic
optimization techniques in the following paper in this section.
Finally, Part III applies economic concepts to issues in computer
science in addition to using computational techniques to solve economic
models.