Vision Research Team Express Interest

Agent-Based Computational Economics

Building a digital twin
of the economy

Cognitive Macroeconomics is developing a computational simulation platform that models financial markets, payment systems, and regulatory environments as living ecosystems of autonomous agents — enabling institutions to stress-test policy, understand systemic risk, and explore outcomes before they happen.

Express Interest See the Research
11+
Published Papers
4
Research Domains
Simulation Scenarios
10yr
Research Foundation
Market Microstructure Agent-Based Modelling Payment System Design Systemic Risk Analysis Digital Assets Regulatory Simulation Financial Networks Nowcasting & ML Market Microstructure Agent-Based Modelling Payment System Design Systemic Risk Analysis Digital Assets Regulatory Simulation Financial Networks Nowcasting & ML

The Problem We Solve

Economies are complex. Models should be too.

Traditional economic models assume rational actors, equilibrium states, and predictable behaviour. Real markets don't. They are made up of thousands of heterogeneous agents — banks, regulators, traders, governments — each acting on incomplete information, interacting in non-linear ways.

Our digital twin approach simulates this complexity from the ground up: autonomous agents with bounded rationality, AI-driven decision-making, and emergent macroeconomic behaviour — so institutions can see what happens before they act.

01 — USE CASE

Regulatory Wind-Tunnel Testing

Simulate proposed regulations across thousands of market conditions before implementation — identifying unintended consequences, procyclicality, and systemic risks invisible to static models.

02 — USE CASE

Payment System Stress Testing

Model participant behaviour in high-value payment systems under liquidity shocks, counterparty failures, or structural changes like de-tiering and system migration.

03 — USE CASE

Financial Network Contagion

Trace how shocks propagate through CDS networks, interbank lending, and clearing systems — mapping fragility before it becomes crisis.

04 — USE CASE

Digital Asset Market Design

Model stablecoin dynamics, crypto arbitrage behaviour, and CBDC introduction scenarios — stress testing market design choices in silico.

Platform Architecture

How the digital twin works

01

Calibrate

Real-world data — payments, balance sheets, market prices, regulatory parameters — is used to calibrate agent behaviour and system topology.

02

Populate

Thousands of autonomous agents are instantiated — banks, CCPs, regulators, traders — each with distinct decision rules, risk appetites, and information sets.

03

Simulate

The artificial economy runs. Agents interact, markets clear, shocks propagate, regulations bite. Emergent macroeconomic outcomes arise from the bottom up.

04

Analyse

Outputs — systemic risk metrics, price dynamics, network topology, liquidity flows — are surfaced for analysis, comparison, and policy insight.

Scientific Foundation

A decade of published research

The digital twin is not a concept without roots. It is built on over a decade of peer-reviewed research in computational economics, market microstructure, financial networks, and regulatory simulation — published in leading journals and central bank research programmes.

Market Microstructure 2019

Procyclicality and Risk-Based Access: Valuing the Embedded CDS of Bilateral Credit Limits in FMIs

Numerical approximation of the risk-neutral daily valuation of LVTS Tranche 2 (2005–2016), identifying conditions for participant withdrawal and specifying "risk-based access" to clearing.

Market Microstructure 2019

A Computational Model of the Market Microstructure of Bilateral Credit Limits in Payment Systems

First theoretical framework for assessing optimisation decisions in payment systems from a market microstructure perspective using ACE and stochastic games.

Computational Economics 2025

An Econometric Investigation on the Stability of Stablecoins

GARCH, SVAR, and TVP-VAR analysis of USD-backed stablecoin volatility. Finds heterogeneous responses to macro-financial shocks with growing systemic integration post-2021.

Computational Economics 2022

Nowcasting Macroeconomic Variables Using Payments Data

Demonstrates significant ML-based predictive ability for real GDP and CPI using near-real-time payments system data, reducing the lag of official statistics.

Financial Networks 2014

Evolution of Systemic Risk and Topological Fragility of the U.S. CDS Network: 2004Q1–2007Q4

Shows how Basel II CRT frameworks unintentionally intensified systemic risk through growing CDS market clustering — calibrated against FDIC call report data.

Computational Economics 2021

Are Cryptocurrencies Cryptic or a Source for Arbitrage? A Genetic Algorithm Approach

Persistent triangular arbitrage of $2–$25 identified across crypto and stablecoin pairs using genetic algorithms. Published in the Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures.

Why Cognitive Macroeconomics

Science-first, institution-ready

Unlike commercial risk platforms built on parametric assumptions, our approach is rooted in computational economics research — with peer-reviewed foundations, real institutional data, and models that generate emergent behaviour rather than interpolating from historical correlations.

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Peer-Reviewed Foundation Published in Journal of Financial Market Infrastructures, De Nederlandsche Bank, and IGI Global
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Central Bank Experience Lead Economic Advisor at Payments Canada; presented at Bank of Canada joint conference
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Working Simulators Functional simulation models for CDS networks, RMBS markets, and CDO dynamics already exist
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Institutional Pedigree Prior experience at AIMCo (OTC derivatives) and HSBC (structured finance)
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Doctoral Research Depth PhD in Computational Finance (Essex) · MSc International Economics, Banking & Finance (Cardiff)

Founder

Built by someone who has done it

Dr. Oluwasegun Bewaji

Founder · Chief Economist

An applied computational economist whose research sits at the intersection of market microstructure, agent-based simulation, and institutional finance.

PhD, Computational Finance — University of Essex
MSc, International Economics, Banking & Finance — Cardiff University
Lead Economic Advisor — Payments Canada
OTC Derivatives — Alberta Investment Management Corporation
Structured Finance — HSBC

Segun has spent over a decade building the intellectual and empirical foundations for what Cognitive Macroeconomics is now productising. His research has modelled Canadian LVTS dynamics, stablecoin volatility, CDS network fragility, CDO market formation, payment volume migration, and cryptocurrency arbitrage — always using real institutional data and agent-based methods.

He has presented at the Bank of Canada and Payments Canada joint conference on agent-based modelling in financial market infrastructures, and has contributed to thinking at ACEFINMOD. His working models — functioning Java simulators for CDS networks, RMBS markets, and CDO dynamics — represent a decade of active prototype development now being rebuilt in Python for broader accessibility and integration.

Cognitive Macroeconomics is the company that brings that body of work into a coherent, institutional-grade simulation platform.

Stay Connected

Express Interest

We are in active development and not yet taking client engagements. If your institution is interested in the digital twin platform — as a future user, research partner, or collaborator — register your interest and we will keep you informed as we progress.

Where we are: The scientific models are proven and published. We are currently rebuilding the simulation engine in Python, expanding the agent framework, and designing the institutional API. Early partnership conversations are welcome.

No commitment. We'll be in touch as the platform develops.

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