Computational Model Library

Agent-Based Model of Social Care with Kinship Networks (1.0.0)

The purpose of this model is the simulation of social care provision in the UK, in which individual agents can decide to provide informal care, or pay for private care, for their loved ones. Agents base these decisions on factors including their own health, employment status, financial resources, relationship to the individual in need and geographical location. The model simulates care provision as a negotiation process conducted between agents across their kinship networks, with agents with stronger familial relationships to the recipient being more likely to attempt to allocate time to care provision. The model also simulates demographic change, the impact of socioeconomic status, and allows agents to relocate and change jobs or reduce working hours in order to provide care.
Despite the relative lack of empirical data in this model, the model is able to reproduce plausible patterns of social care provision. The inclusion of detailed economic and behavioural mechanisms allows this model to serve as a useful policy development tool; complex behavioural interventions can be implemented in simulation and tested on a virtual population before applying them in real-world contexts.

Release Notes

This release contains the model code that was used to produce the 2019 Royal Society Open Science paper. The model runs in Python 2.7, and package requirements include Sci-Kit Learn, NumPy, NetworkX, Tkinter and Matplotlib.

Associated Publications

http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.190029

Agent-Based Model of Social Care with Kinship Networks 1.0.0

The purpose of this model is the simulation of social care provision in the UK, in which individual agents can decide to provide informal care, or pay for private care, for their loved ones. Agents base these decisions on factors including their own health, employment status, financial resources, relationship to the individual in need and geographical location. The model simulates care provision as a negotiation process conducted between agents across their kinship networks, with agents with stronger familial relationships to the recipient being more likely to attempt to allocate time to care provision. The model also simulates demographic change, the impact of socioeconomic status, and allows agents to relocate and change jobs or reduce working hours in order to provide care.
Despite the relative lack of empirical data in this model, the model is able to reproduce plausible patterns of social care provision. The inclusion of detailed economic and behavioural mechanisms allows this model to serve as a useful policy development tool; complex behavioural interventions can be implemented in simulation and tested on a virtual population before applying them in real-world contexts.

Release Notes

This release contains the model code that was used to produce the 2019 Royal Society Open Science paper. The model runs in Python 2.7, and package requirements include Sci-Kit Learn, NumPy, NetworkX, Tkinter and Matplotlib.

Version Submitter First published Last modified Status
1.0.0 Eric Silverman Thu Oct 14 16:36:54 2021 Thu Oct 14 16:36:54 2021 Published

Discussion

This website uses cookies and Google Analytics to help us track user engagement and improve our site. If you'd like to know more information about what data we collect and why, please see our data privacy policy. If you continue to use this site, you consent to our use of cookies.
Accept