AbstractsEconomics

This dissertation consists of three major parts. The first part (chapter 2 and 3) presents different models which integrate macroeconomics with agent-based financial markets. These models feature bounded rational expectations. They are applied to analyse the impact of financial market speculation on the macro economy in general and the performance of several kinds of financial transaction taxes as well as conventional and unconventional monetary policy in particular. The second part (chapter 4) presents a minimal agent-based macroeconomic model that is, on the one hand very simple compared to competitors, but, on the other hand capable of explaining several features of modern economies endogenously. The model is intended to provide a starting point for latter research. The third part (chapter 5 and 6) presents an agent-based model explaining the creation of money along the lines of standard fractional reserve banking theory. Although simple, the model demonstrates that the creation of money inevitably produces instability. The model is used to, first, quantify the impact of an interbank market as well as of the new Basel III framework on the stability of the economy.