<p>“Symmetric agents” generally means that all the agents have the same payoff function and the same information set. In this case, it’s the function you’ve specified. It’s often the case that, because symmetric agents will all respond the same way, they can be replaced with a single representative agent, in contrast to heterogenous agent models. </p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-24T21:35:16.520Z
2018-11-24T22:14:00.090Z
2018-11-24T22:14:00.090Z
dismalscience
<p>Here is a contextual example from <a href="http://www.chicagocdr.org/papers/listpaper.pdf" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Landry et. al. 2006 </a>:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>We concentrate on an economy with n symmetric agents who
  derive utility from consuming a numeraire good, yi, a public good
  at level G, and (possibly) from their own contribution bi to the
  public good. Each agent faces a budget constraint yi  bi  w and
  derives ex post utility according to  </p>
  
  <p>(1) <span class="math-container">$   Ui = u(yi) + \Theta h(G)  + \gamma f(bi)$</span></p>
</blockquote>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-11-24T19:59:11.440Z
`$\lambda$` yields $\lambda$, and `$\Lambda$` gives you $\Lambda$
caverac
<definition>
What are 'Symmetric Agents' vs. 'Asymmetric Agents'?
orson
# What are 'Symmetric Agents' vs. 'Asymmetric Agents'?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2018-11-24)

Here is a contextual example from [Landry et. al. 2006](http://www.chicagocdr.org/papers/listpaper.pdf) :

> We concentrate on an economy with n symmetric agents who
> derive utility from consuming a numeraire good, yi, a public good
> at level G, and (possibly) from their own contribution bi to the
> public good. Each agent faces a budget constraint yi bi w and
> derives ex post utility according to
>
> (1) $ Ui = u(yi) + \Theta h(G) + \gamma f(bi)$

**Tags:** definition
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: `$\lambda$` yields $\lambda$, and `$\Lambda$` gives you $\Lambda$  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2018-11-24. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

“Symmetric agents” generally means that all the agents have the same payoff function and the same information set. In this case, it’s the function you’ve specified. It’s often the case that, because symmetric agents will all respond the same way, they can be replaced with a single representative agent, in contrast to heterogenous agent models.


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