A New Perspective on the Social Sciences: Agent-Based Modelling from Prof. Asad Zaman

Prof. Asad Zaman, a visiting professor of Economics at our University, delivered a seminar entitled “A New Approach to Social Sciences: Agent-Based Modelling” on Friday, October 2, 2026, at the Teoman Duralı Conference Hall. Held as part of the Ibn Haldun University Economics Seminar Series, the event brought to the fore an alternative perspective to established ways of thinking in the social sciences.

A New Perspective in the Social Sciences

Agent-based modelling reverses the conventional view that explains society and the economy from the top down, through uniform and fully rational individuals. From this perspective, social phenomena arise from the interaction of people who differ from one another, make decisions with limited information, and continuously influence each other. Crises, inequality, social norms, and market fluctuations are treated not as the outcome of a presupposed equilibrium, but as patterns that emerge spontaneously from within these interactions.

The 2008 global financial crisis exposed the limits of equilibrium-centred models and increased interest in this new outlook. Once regarded as outside the mainstream, the approach has today become a method relied upon by central banks and international organizations.

Another notable aspect of the approach is its connection to Ibn Khaldun's thought. The Muqaddimah, which reads social change through ʿumrān, ʿaṣabiyya, and cyclical transformation, is considered one of the early examples of this outlook, which seeks to understand the whole through the interaction of its parts. By opening up the possibility of comparative and pluralistic thinking beyond a single mould, the method also resonates with our university's motto of "Intellectual Independence."

The IHU Economics Seminar Series will continue every Friday at 14:15 at the Teoman Duralı Conference Hall.