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 preliminary results with 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 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.
You can download the data for Matlab (or Octave).
The variables that begin with s1 are from the first simulation, those with s2 are from the second, and those with s3 are from the third.
The variables trigo and hierro represent the quantities available to each agent (vertical) in each session (horizontal), including the quantities available at the start of the simulation.
The variables entregas include the session, the agent making the delivery, the agent receiving the delivery, the wheat delivered, and the iron delivered (spreadsheets include date and time).
The variables procesos include the process chosen by each agent (vertical) in each session (horizontal).
First simulation, September to December 2023:
Formatted spreadsheets: wheat, iron, deliveries, processes
Unformatted spreadsheets: Materials, processes and comments , Deliveries , Companies (limited)
Second simulation, February to May 2024:
Formatted spreadsheets: wheat, iron, deliveries, processes
Unofrmatted spreadsheets: Materials, processes and comments , Deliveries , Companies
Third simulation, February to May 2025:
Formatted spreadsheets: wheat, iron, deliveries, processes
Unformatted spreadsheets: Materials, processes and comments , Deliveries , Companies
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.
Excel spreadsheets can also be used to solve for an optimal allocation.
Tools and software
Tools for carrying out the simulation are available.
Learning economics
Simulation has proven excellent in teaching economics.