Modeling the Forest or Modeling the Trees

Comparison of System Dynamics and Agent-Based Simulation
Both agent-based modeling and complexity theory as well as system dynamics have a high capacity of explanatory power and produce rich bodies of research and literature on widely overlapping fields of application.
Scholl's paper calls for the cross study of these bodies of literature. Along these lines, this paper provides an excellent summary of comparison between systems dynamics and agent-based simulation. Drawing from a large pool of literature, the paper investigates the overlapping and complementary insights and the synergies involved between the two schools of simulation. The paper also briefly looks at some selected cases where both the approaches were integrated.
The authors, Nadine Schieritz and Peter M. Milling from Mannheim University, Mannheim, Germany, conclude that the integration of approaches might be useful, but there is a cautionary disclaimer about the practice of carrying out this task. Practitioners may not only find the comparison helpful, but their comments on the article could also spawn interesting ideas and, perhaps even some fine insights. To read this article, click on the link: Modeling the Forest or Modeling the Trees