System Dynamics

Publications and Working Papers

The faculty of the MIT System Dynamics group research how modeling and simulations can be applied to business, economics, decision decision-making, organizational sciences, policy-making and legislation, social sciences, and system sciences. Below are samples of their research.

For more publications, please visit our collections on the Social Science Research Network and MIT’s DSpace. You can also subscribe to our Faculty Publications RSS Feed

David R. Keith

David R. Keith

Senior Lecturer

Featured Publications

"Gas Anxiety and the Charging Choices of Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle Drivers."

Ge, Yanbo, Don MacKenzie, and David R. Keith. Transportation Research Part D: Transport and Environment Vol. 64, (2018): 111-121.

"Supply Constraints and Waitlists in New Production Diffusion."

Keith, David R., John D. Sterman, and Jeroen Struben. System Dynamics Review Vol. 33, No. 3-4 (2017): 254-279.

"Driving the Future: A Management Flight Simulator of the US Automobile Market."

Keith, David R., Sergey Naumov, and John Sterman. Simulation and Gaming Vol. 48, No. 6 (2017): 735-769.

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Hazhir Rahmandad

Hazhir Rahmandad

Schussel Family Professor of Management Science

Featured Publications

"Delays Impair Learning and Can Drive Convergence to Inefficient Strategies."

Rahmandad, Hazhir, and Michael Shayne Gary. Organization Science. Forthcoming. Download Paper. Supplemental Materials.

"Weather, Air Pollution, and SARS-CoV-2 Transmission: A Global Analysis."

Xu, Ran, Hazhir Rahmandad, Marichi Gupta, Catherine DiGennaro, Navid Ghaffarzadegan, Heresh Amini, and Mohammad S. Jalali. The Lancet: Planetary Health Vol. 5, No. 10 (2021): E671-E680.

"Behavioral Dynamics of COVID-19: Estimating Under-Reporting, Multiple Waves, and Adherence Fatigue Across 92 Nations."

Rahmandad, Hazhir, Tse Yang Lim, and John D. Sterman. System Dynamics Review Vol. 37, No. 1 (2021): 5-31. SSRN Preprint.

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Nelson P. Repenning

Nelson P. Repenning

School of Management Distinguished Professor of System Dynamics and Organization Studies

Featured Publications

"Making the Numbers? 'Short Termism' and the Puzzle of Only Occasional Disasters."

Rahmandad, Hazhir, Nelson Repenning, and Rebecca Henderson. Management Science Vol. 64, No. 3 (2018): 1328-1347. Online Appendix. Download Paper.

"Pull for Knowledge Work."

Dodge, Sheila, Timothy De Smet, James Meldrim, Niall Lennon, Danielle Perrin, Steve Ferriera, Zachary Leber, Dennis Friedrich, Stacey Gabriel, Eric S. Lander, Don Kieffer, and Nelson Repenning, MIT Sloan Working Paper 5380-18. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, April 2018.

"Agile for Everyone Else: Using Triggers and Checks to Create Agility Outside of Software Development."

Repenning, James, Don Keifer, and Nelson Repenning, MIT Sloan Working Paper 5198-17. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, June 2017.

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Steven Spear

Steven Spear

Senior Lecturer, System Dynamics

Featured Publications

"Fast Discovery."

Steven J. Spear. London, UK: January 2017.

"Ambiguity and Workarounds as Contributors to Medical Error."

Spear, Steven J., and Mark Schmidhofer. Annals of Internal Medicine Vol. 142, No. 8 (2005): 627-630.

"Beyond the Jargon: Architecture, Process, and Clinical Care."

McGuire, Kevin J., and Steven J. Spear. Spine Vol. 40, No. 16 (2015): 1243-1246.

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John D. Sterman

John D. Sterman

Jay W. Forrester Professor of Management

Featured Publications

"A Model Simulator: The Lives of Jay W. Forrester."

Lane, David C., and John D. Sterman. Journal of Simulation Vol. 12, No. 2 (2018): 90-97. Access paper through MIT Libraries.

"Jay Wright Forrester, 1918-2016."

Lane, David, and John D. Sterman. In National Academy of Engineering Memorial Tributes, Washington, DC: National Academies Press, 2019.

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Vicky Chuqiao Yang

Vicky Chuqiao Yang

Richard S. Leghorn (1939) Career Development Assistant Professor in Management of Technological Innovation

Featured Publications

"Dynamical-system Model Predicts when Social Learners Impair Collective Performance."

Yang, Vicky Chuqiao, Mirta Galesic, Harvey McGuinness, Ani Harutyunyan. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol. 118, No. 35 (2021): e210629211.

"Why Are U.S. Parties So Polarized? A “Satisficing” Dynamical Model."

Yang, Vicky Chuqiao, Daniel M. Abrams, Georgia Kernell, and Adilson E. Motter. SIAM Review Vol. 62, No. 3 (2020): 646-657.

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