Continuing the ongoing tradition (see the post from last year), I gave another two lecture tutorial introducing Master degree students to the physics of socio-economic phenomena. This time, the tutorial's focus has shifted from agent-based modeling towards complex systems and scale-free phenomena point-of-view. I was looking for a way to present this research area to physics students, but I have to admit that Mantegna's and Stanley's approach is indeed superior (see [1]).

You can find the newest iteration of slides here.

References

• R. N. Mantegna, H. E. Stanley. Introduction to Econophysics: Correlations and Complexity in Finance. Cambridge University Press, 1999. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511755767.

Eleven years ago I have written a post about many particle interactions in the kinetic exchange models. Few days ago I have stumbled upon that post and noticed that it features a model that has little in common with kinetic exchange models. Under these circumstances the only natural thing is to write a dedicated post highlighting the said model.

So, consider how we make decisions. Not all of us are skilled and informed enough to make decisions on our own in all possible everyday scenarios. I may be a physicist, but I do not understand some branches of physics well enough. I am not speaking about the questions outside my work or hobby expertise. In such cases, we must rely on our social contacts (acquaintances, co-workers, family members, etc.) to help us decide.

Are you interested in complex systems, opinion dynamics, or the voter model? Do you have a Master's degree in Physics or Mathematics and a good grasp of statistics and numerical simulation? Would you like to work together with me as your PhD supervisor? If so, apply for a PhD position at the Institute of Theoretical Physics and Astronomy (part of the Faculty of Physics at Vilnius University).

Last week I have shared a story about Colonel Blotto tournament I held back when I still used to teach Matlab. This tournament is interesting from the perspective of Physics of Risk, because it was designed to encourage adaptive strategy. Admittedly, only few students actually did that, but...

Anyway, let us build an adaptive strategy for one of the variations of the Colonel Blotto game we have explored recently. Let us revisit Colonel Blotto game with varied castles!

As I have already written couple of times, I used to teach Matlab. My experience was quite varied with many highs and as many lows. The high points were usually introducing and solving more complicated or involved problems, and also helping students to understand them. One time I held a tournament similar to Riddler Nation tournament hosted by Riddler on FiveThirtyEight, which was based on the Colonel Blotto game.

In this post I discuss the problem posed to my students. And I also provide a live session recording of me implementing Colonel Blotto tournament in Matlab.