What is Computational Economics?
"... To me, Computational Economics is a new methodology for solving economic problems with the help of computing machinery. Hence, Computational Economics is not restricted to a specific branch of economics. Any line of economic research that uses this new methodology fits the definition of Computational Economics. The only restriction we have to make is that this new methodology has a value added in terms of (economic) problem solving [...] To some extent current developments with respect to the Internet are helping Computational Economics to gain acceptance within the profession. Computers and electronic networking are having a big impact on the fabric of the economy and on society as a whole. Inevitably this will change the way in which economicsts study the economy and, therefore, Computational Economics will have, I hope a bigger role to play. As more and more economic transactions are transformed into [...] bits instead of atoms, a whole new set of research problems and possibilities will emerge that fall into the domain of Computational Economics.
Join me in a peek into the future. Nowadays, more and more economic transactions are recorded in real time and online. Apart from the business opportunities this recording offers, it will also produce detailed data we cannto imagine at this stage. Finding your way in these data, data mining as it is now called will be a line of research in its own right. To put it at a more aggregate level, eventually we will see something emerge like a real-time economy. In the long run we will be able to study a part of the economy as it evolves on the net. Evidently, this will create new economic problems and research possibilities for the profession.
From the above it is clear that, in the next twenty-five years, Computational Economics will have a promising future. It is likely though, that Computational Economics will eventually follow the same course as Mathematical Economics. It will cease to exist. What we now call Computational Economics will become an integrated part of studying economics. A pity? No, it is as it should be."

Hans Amman, Computational Economics 1997



"Computational economics explores the intersection of economics and computation. Included within computational economics are special interest groups focusing on computational approaches to agent based models, econometrics and statistics, finance, macro modeling, and dynamics, as well as on Internet economics, programming languages, and teaching of computational economics. Some of these areas are unique to Computational economics, while others extend traditional areas of economics to new areas through computational techniques."

Society for Computational Economics, Website
The focus of MICE
MICE was established in August 2002 to focus on developing software for economic problem solving. We define three main domains to categorize computer assistance in economics: CAL/CAT (learing and teaching), CAR (research) and CAS (applications for solving real-life problems). Computational Economics is regarded as a hybrid approach that serves as an interface between economics and information science making computer-based methods available for economic problem solving. Computational techniques do both, they simplify (e.g. simulation software) and expand the economist's tool box (e.g. use of Artificial Intelligence methods). Implementing economic theory in user-friendly software is more than mere programming: it enriches the ability to express ourselves and can help to make economic theory more easily accessible to the end-users. We hope that this will contribute to bridge the gap between academic economics and it's use in real-world situations.