Analysing the Combined Health, Social and Economic Impacts of the Corona Virus Pandemic Using Agent‑Based Social Simulation
Frank Dignum, Virginia Dignum, Paul Davidsson, Amineh Ghorbani, Mijke van den Hurk, Maarten Jensen, Christian Kammler, Fabian Lorig, Luís Gustavo Ludescher, Alexander Melchior, René Mellema, Cezara Păstrăv, Loïs Vanhée, Harko Verhagen
Abstract
<p>During the COVID-19 crisis there have been many difficult decisions governments and other decision makers had to make. E.g. do we go for a total lock down or keep schools open? How many people and which people should be tested? Although there are many good models from e.g. epidemiologists on the spread of the virus under certain conditions, these models do not directly translate into the interventions that can be taken by government. Neither can these models contribute to understand the economic and/or social consequences of the interventions. However, effective and sustainable solutions need to take into account this combination of factors. In this paper, we propose an agent-based social simulation tool, ASSOCC, that supports decision makers understand possible consequences of policy interventions, but exploring the combined social, health and economic consequences of these interventions.</p>