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Evolutionary Computation in Economics

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Encyclopedia of Machine Learning

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Definition

Evolutionary computation (EC) in economics is an area of knowledge which involves the use of any of the EC techniques, also known as evolutionary algorithms (EAs), in order to approach the topics within the economic sciences. This area of knowledge is different from the Evolutionary Economics field which does not necessarily apply EC techniques to study economic problems. The use of EC in economics pursues different purposes mainly to overcome some of the limitations of the classical economic models and to relax some of the strong assumptions made in such models.

Motivation and Background

Evolutionary computation (EC) is a branch of Machine Learning which is inspired in many forms by the principle of evolution. EC techniques, among many other machine learning techniques, have proven to be quite flexible and powerful tools in many different fields and disciplines. Economics-affine fields are by no means the exception for this widespread use of these evolutionary inspired...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

    Authors
    1. Serafín Martínez-Jaramillo
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    2. Biliana Alexandrova-Kabadjova
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    3. Alma Lilia García-Almanza
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    4. Tonatiuh Peña Centeno
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    Editor information

    Editors and Affiliations

    1. School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2052

      Claude Sammut

    2. Faculty of Information Technology, Clayton School of Information Technology, Monash University, P.O. Box 63, Victoria, Australia, 3800

      Geoffrey I. Webb

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    Martínez-Jaramillo, S., Alexandrova-Kabadjova, B., García-Almanza, A.L., Centeno, T.P. (2011). Evolutionary Computation in Economics. In: Sammut, C., Webb, G.I. (eds) Encyclopedia of Machine Learning. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30164-8_273

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