Mario Ureta holds a BSc in Economics from Birkbeck, University of London, a Graduate Diploma in Data Science from the London School of Economics, and an MSc in Data Science and Analytics from Brunel University London. He is currently a PhD student in Computing Science at Birkbeck, University of London. His research focuses on the economic study of individual preferences and decision-making, and on the use of agent-based models as a bridge between economic theory and computational experimentation. Through economic simulation, his work examines how heterogeneous preferences, social interaction, and firm behaviour jointly shape aggregate market outcomes, including non-linear dynamics and tipping points.

Research Interests

My research interests centre on the study of individual preferences in economics and on understanding how preferences evolve through interaction, learning, and social context. I am particularly interested in how seemingly weak or latent preferences—such as attitudes toward environmental attributes, prices, or social norms—can become amplified through feedback mechanisms and generate non-linear aggregate outcomes. A core methodological focus of my work is the use of agent-based modelling and economic simulation as a bridge between economic theory and experimentation. By treating agent-based models as computational laboratories, I explore how heterogeneous preferences, habit formation, peer influence, and firm behaviour interact dynamically, allowing theoretical mechanisms to be tested, stress-tested, and compared under controlled but flexible conditions that are difficult to achieve using purely analytical or empirical approaches.