Using Obson - Obson/MicroSim-GUI GitHub Wiki

Creating your first model

IMPORTANT: This description is now out of date. It will be updated ASAP.

If you haven't already done so I recommend that you first read the Overview page. If you have you'll know roughly what, in Obson terms, is meant by the term 'model'. Obson allows you to create, modify, and remove models, and the first thing you will need to do when you run Obson for the first time is create a model. MicroSim provides a set of default settings known as the 'Standard Model' to get you going.

Just enter a name for the model (e.g. "My First Model") and any notes you feel like adding, and click OK. Before you do that, just notice that you'll be importing parameters from the Standard Model. There's nothing particularly special about the Standard Model; it's just provided so you have something to work with before you've set up any models of your own, and as a reference point when you have.

Once you've created a model it will be automatically added to the list so you can import its parameters into yet another model. This enables you to create, say, a set of similar models so you can quickly compare them.

If you click Cancel instead of OK you'll need to create a model by clicking the 'New' button at the bottom left of the main 'window'.

When you do click OK you will see the Parameter Setup 'wizard':

This is a very important tool. We'll shortly be looking at it in detail, but for now just click 'Done' so that MicroSim will use these parameters to create your first model. The Setup Wizard will go away and leaving an almost empty window:

As you can see, the model you just created is selected. Looking at the status bar at the bottom we can also see that this model has an equality coefficient (aka Gini coefficient) of 17% and a productivity coefficient of 116%. We'll return to these coefficients and what they mean shortly.

Output from the Model

The large empty area is where the output from the model will appear. To see the output, just select a property you are interested in by checking a box in the 'Properties' list. Try selecting 'Bonuses paid', 'Consumption' and 'Wages paid'.

Chart Profiles

Having looked at the resulting chart you might decide that this is a particularly useful group of properties to look at together. To save having to select them individually you can group them into a 'chart profile'. Click the sixth icon from the top of the toolbar (when you hover over it you will see the hint 'Save chart profile') and enter a suitable name in the dialog that appears:

Click Save and the chart profile will be saved (see the Chat Profiles list) so you can select it again later.

Another useful combination is 'Business balance', 'Households balance' and 'National Debt'. Using the same technique, select all three and save as a new chart profile called 'Balances'. Now you can easily switch between the two charts by selecting their profiles.

More later...