Application of the Automata Theory to Economic Systems

This work follows quite recent discovery that even very complex phenomena common in nature can emerge from interaction of a large number of agents following very simple behavioural rules, reflected in the automata-based fashion. After discussion of an appropriate methodology for examining models defined in this way, the thesis specifies, models, examines and interprets a selected economic system (fundamentalist/chartist stock market) in terms of simple interacting automata, and uses this experimental study to practically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the approach. This work should be especially useful to professionals in agent-based computational economics, helping them to get to the heart of automata models of economic agents, and providing them with guidelines of automata-based modelling and analysis in this context.