Capital; an experiment
As part of a research and teaching project at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, we conducted three simulations of pure capitalism with the participation of 210 students as economic agents over a total of 49 sessions.
The main objective was to compare the behavior of the system with the Von Neumann economic model, which includes, as particular cases, Leontief's input-output analysis and the Sraffa equations, as well as with their generalization: Maximum Long-Term Benefit. These theories can be interpreted as particular cases of General Equilibrium Theory, but also as alternative theories.
At the same time, the simulations allowed students to practically apply and assimilate fundamental economic concepts.
Description of the research
Although the project is under development, a first paper with 18 co-authors has already been presented at the 10th Conference on Input-Output Analysis, https://io10.shaio.es/en/ , in September 2024.
To facilitate the study and understanding of the data, is available:
An presentation of the paper (in PDF or without a reader), updated including data from the third simulation conducted subsequently, and a summary.
A video containing an exposition of the comparison of the simulations with theory aimed at participants in the third simulation in June 2025.
Data
We added a first provisional version of the most relevant data. It is possible that some small errors have slipped in because a few data have been transferred manually, but in any case it will be of very little relevance. We will add more information later.
First simulation, September to December 2023:
Second simulation, February to May 2024:
Third simulation, February to May 2025:
Tools
Tools for carrying out the simulation are also available.
Theory and algorithms
Von Neumann Model (VN)
For an introduction for non-mathematicians, see pages 5-8 of Computing Von Neumann.
For its relationship to Leontief and Sraffa theories, see page 17.
To solve VN, you can use algorithms in Matlab or Octave, or Excel spreadsheets.
Maximum Long-Term Benefit (MLTB)
For its approach, see the section 17.5.3 of the thesis.
For its connection to VN, see 19.1.
To solve it, you can use version 2 of the algorithms for Matlab or Octave, for example, with the Octave Online interface (if a welcome window appears, click the button at the bottom of the window). To solve our simulation, we will type the command (mblp in spanish)
mblp
To obtain the solution with other data, you can use a help.