Artificial experiments in economics, with agent based models

We introduce here a small set of artificial experiments in social science and a simplified tool useful to develop them in the perspective of the analysis of complex systems, with different degrees of cognitive definition of agents ’ behavior. The straightforward way to build this kind of structures requires the use of agent based simulation techniques, i.e. models in which small software routines behave representing artificial agents within artificial environments, and ecosystems are built that allow the emergence of institutions such as market, organizations, hierarchal structures. jESOF (java Enterprise Simulation Open Foundations, web.econ.unito.it/terna/jes) is a tool created with the aim of simplifying for social scientists the access to agent based simulation, that does not require to be high level specialized computer scientists. This kind of research is in a middle point amid an applied work and a theoretical speculation because we can use this line of analysis both to model actual situations, analyzing also the effects of changes, and to build abstract structures of interacting units, firms or districts, to simulate emerging behavior. The application to the actual world is also useful to collect fact