Highlights of Contemporary Microsimulation

Abstract

Microsimulation is a family of computer simulations that all depend on individual-level data as input to one or more processes that are aggregated into macro-level outcomes. A popular application of microsimulation is automobile traffic systems where the individual records are vehicles. Persons constitute the individuals of most policy-oriented microsimulation models built by economists, sociologists, geographers, demographers, and other policy analysts. Although the field is more than 50 years old, in the past two decades, the volume of policy microsimulation models has skyrocketed. The articles in this Special Issue reflect the exciting developments and findings of these models.