Renmin University of China Li Sanxi: Frontiers in Agent-Based and Microeconomic Research
Topic:Frontiers in Agent-Based and Microeconomic Research
Speaker:Professor Li Sanxi, School of Economics, Renmin University of China
Moderator:Professor Yu Jianyu, Institute of Economic and Management
Time:November 6, 14:20-16:00
Venue:Room 1211, Gezhi Building, Liulin Campus
Organizer:Institute of Economic and Management, Research Office
Speaker's Biography:
Professor Li Sanxi is the Vice Dean of the School of Economics at Renmin University of China and holds the Wu Yuzhang Distinguished Professorship. He is a member of national-level talent programs, the Vice President of the China Information Economics Society, and the Vice President of the Game Theory Branch of the Operations Research Society of China. He serves on the editorial board of the SSCI journal Journal of Economics* and was formerly the Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Economic Theory and Economic Management. His research focuses on information economics, industrial organization theory, and the digital economy. He has published over thirty papers in prestigious journals such as Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Economic Theory, Management Science, Games and Economic Behavior, Economic Research Journal, Management World, Economics (Quarterly), World Economy, and China Industrial Economics.
His research has been recognized with several awards, including the Ninth Higher Education Scientific Research Outstanding Achievement Award (Humanities and Social Sciences) for Young Scholars, the China Information Economics Theory Contribution Award, the China Information Economics Youth Innovation Award, the Best Paper Award at the China Information Economics Annual Conference, and the First Prize for Best Paper at the China Industrial Economics Annual Conference. He has also received the Global Times*"Hope Talent Award," the China Information Economics Society "Wu Jiabei" Award, and the "Zhang Peigang Development Economics Young Scholar Award."
Professor Li has led major projects funded by the National Social Science Foundation, co-led major projects funded by the National Natural Science Foundation, and has been a recipient of the National Natural Science Foundation's Excellent Young Scientists Fund, General Program, and Young Scientists Fund.
Lecture Content:
This lecture will explore the frontiers of agent-based and microeconomic research. It will delve into the integration of agent-based models and microeconomic theory, highlighting their applications and implications in various economic contexts. The discussion will cover recent developments in the field, including the use of computational methods to simulate and analyze complex economic systems, the role of intelligent agents in market dynamics, and the implications for policy and decision-making. The speaker will share insights from his extensive research, providing a comprehensive overview of the current state and future directions of this interdisciplinary area.
Abstract
As artificial intelligence evolves from an analytical tool into an agent capable of autonomous decision-making, participation in transactions, and interaction with humans, microeconomics is confronting a fundamental theoretical strain. Conventional models are anchored in human preferences, information, strategies, and equilibria; AI agents, however, are characterized by data-driven operation, programmability, rapid iteration, and replicable deployment, and their “rationality” is not wholly congruent with that of humans. The resulting problems—algorithmic collusion, the attribution of liability, value alignment, platform governance, and the incentives underpinning human–AI collaboration—are challenging the explanatory power of existing economic theory. This lecture examines how microeconomics might respond to the transformations of the AI era. It first situates the discussion in its policy context: drawing on the State Council’s Opinions on Deeply Implementing the “AI Plus” Initiative, it traces the accelerating formation of intelligent economic forms, in which new-generation intelligent terminals, agents, digital labor, embodied intelligence, and agent-to-agent (A2A) transactions are reshaping the structures of production, consumption, pricing, exchange, and governance. It then examines, at the technical level, why AI agents warrant particular attention: large language models endow agents with stronger capacities for instruction comprehension and strategy generation; reinforcement learning enhances their capacity for sequential decision-making in dynamic environments; and multi-agent systems render strategic interaction—both AI–AI and AI–human—an object that can be experimentally manipulated and observed. On this basis, the lecture elaborates a research framework for “agent economics”: once AI becomes a new participant in markets, microeconomics must revisit preference formation, information structure, contract design, market equilibrium, and the boundaries of regulation, and must likewise develop new theoretical instruments and policy foundations for algorithmic collusion, platform monopoly, the distribution of data as a factor of production, the delineation of liability, and the governance of human–AI collaboration.
