Simulating Heterogeneous Farmer Behaviors under Different Policy Schemes: Integrating Economic Experiments and Agent-Based Modeling

In this paper, we develop an agent-based model that scales up results from economic experiments on technology diffusion and abatement of non-point source water pollution under the conditions of an actual watershed. The results from the economic experiments provide the foundation for assumptions used in the agent-based model. Data from geographic information systems and the US Census of Agriculture initialize and parameterize the model. This integrated model enables the exploration of the effects of several policy interventions on technology diffusion and agricultural production and, hence, on agricultural non-point source pollution. Simulation results demonstrate that information "nudges" based on social comparisons increase ambient-based policy performance as well as efficiency, espcially individual-level tailored information on what others like them have done in past similar situations.