Infrastructure projects with delegation 🎯

Type: Academic
Published: Sat Feb 10 2024

Infrastructure projects with delegation: an agent-based model to simulate the interaction between principal, agent and nature

I developed a theoretical framework and a computational model to simulate the evolution of a physical infrastructure (e.g., a road network, a bridge, an energy distribution network) which exists under the influence of:

• stochastic stressors from the natural enviroment
• the interaction between two main economic players:
  • the agent, who operates and maintains the system and benefits from the revenue produced by it
  • the principal or owner of the system, who delegates these tasks to the agent, performs inspections and is able to impose penalties

This setup creates a very interesting interaction that captures the actual complexity of large infrastructure projects, where many factors are intertwined, such as:

• technical and engineering decisions
• economic variables
• stategic behaviours of the players
• uncertainty and information asymmetries
• contract design

This research project resulted in the following published articles:

• A dynamic principal-agent framework for modeling the performance of infrastructure
• Related conference papers:
  • Modeling the principal-agent interaction in the operation of infrastructure systems
  • Methodology to quantify in economic terms the vulnerability of an interurban road network and prioritize investments for climate change adaptation

Code

Github repo: MATLAB implementation

Demo GUI in Matlab:

I developed this project as the thesis for my master's degree on Infrastructure Systems, which I completed in 2015 at Universidad de los Andes.