Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Models

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics

  • 1587 Accesses

Abstract

Philosophical analysis of the historical development of modelling, as well as the programmatic statements of the founders of modelling, support three different functions for modelling: for fitting theories to the world; for theorizing; and as instruments of investigation. Rather than versions of data or of theories, models can be understood as complex objects constructed out of many resources that defy simple description. These accounts also suggest a kinship between the ways models work in economics and various kinds of experiment, found most obviously in simulation but equally salient in older traditions of mathematical and statistical modelling.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 6,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 8,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Bibliography

  • Adelman, I., and F.L. Adelman. 1959. The dynamic properties of the Klein–Goldberger model. Econometrica 27: 596–625.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Backhouse, R.E. 1998. The transformation of U.S. economics, 1920–1960. In From interwar pluralism to postwar neoclassicism, Annual Supplement to History of Political Economy, vol. 30, ed. M.S. Morgan and M. Rutherford. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bodkin, R.G., L.R. Klein, and K. Marwah. 1991. A history of macroeconometric model-building. Aldershot: Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boltzmann, L. 1911. Models. In Encyclopaedia britannica, 11th ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boumans, M. 1993. Paul Ehrenfest and Jan Tinbergen: A case of limited physics transfer. In Non-natural social science: Reflecting on the enterprise of more heat than light, ed. N. De Marchi. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boumans, M. 1997. Lucas and artificial worlds. In New economics and its history, ed. J.B. Davis. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boumans, M. 1999. Built-in justification. In Models as mediators, ed. M.S. Morgan and M. Morrison. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boumans, M. 2005. How economists model the world to numbers. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Boumans, M., and M.S. Morgan. 2001. Ceteris paribus conditions: Materiality and the application of economic theories. Journal of Economic Methodology 8: 11–26.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boumans, M., and M.S. Morgan. 2004. Secrets hidden by two-dimensionality: The economy as a hydraulic machine. In Models: The third dimension of science, ed. S. de Chadarevian and N. Hopwood. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bridgeman, P. 1927. The logic of modern physics. New York: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cartwright, N. 1989. Nature’s capacities and their measurement. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Charles, L. 2004. The Tableau économique as rational recreation. History of Political Economy 36: 445–474.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clarkson, G.P.E., and H.A. Simon. 1960. Simulation of individual and group behaviour. American Economic Review 50: 920–932.

    Google Scholar 

  • Darity, W., and W. Young. 1995. IS–LM: An inquest. History of Political Economy 27: 1–41.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Den Butter, F., and M.S. Morgan. 2000. Empirical models and policy making: Interaction and institutions. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Duesenberry, J.S., O. Eckstein, and G. Fromm. 1960. A simulation of the United States economy in recession. Econometrica 28: 749–809.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Epstein, R.J. 1987. A history of econometrics. Amsterdam: North-Holland.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fisher, I. 1892. Mathematical investigations in the theory of value and prices. Yale University thesis, repr. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1925.

    Google Scholar 

  • Friedman, M. 1953. Essays in positive economics. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Frisch, R. 1933. Propagation and impulse problems in dynamic economics. In Economic essays in honour of Gustav Cassel. London: Allen & Unwin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gibbard, A., and H.R. Varian. 1978. Economic models. Journal of Philosophy 75: 664–677.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gordon, S. 1991. The history and philosophy of social science. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Guala, F. 2001. Building economic machines: The FCC auctions. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 32: 453–477.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Haavelmo, T. 1944. The probability approach in econometrics. Econometrica 12(Supplement): iii–iv. 1–115.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hamminga, B. 1998. Poznań approach. In Handbook of economic methodology, ed. J.B. Davis, D. Wade Hands, and U. Mäki. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamminga, B., and N. De Marchi (eds.). 1994. Idealization in economics. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hausman, D.M. (ed.). 1984. The philosophy of economics: An anthology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hausman, D.M. 1990. Supply and demand explanations and their ceteris paribus clauses. Review of Political Economy 2: 168–187.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hausman, D.M. 1992. The inexact and separate science of economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Heckman, J. 2000. Causal parameters and policy analysis in economics: A twentieth century retrospective. Quarterly Journal of Economics 115: 45–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirsch, A., and N. De Marchi. 1990. Milton friedman: Economics in theory and practice. New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Hoover, K.D. 1994. Econometrics as observation: The Lucas critique and the nature of econometric inference. Journal of Economic Methodology 1: 65–80.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, T.M. 1996. The early history of the box diagram. Federal Reserve Board of Richmond Economic Review 82(1): 37–75.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ingrao, B., and G. Israel. 1987. The invisible hand: Economic equilibrium in the history of science. Trans. I. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press McGilvray, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Knight, F.H. 1921. Risk, uncertainty and profit. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koopmans, T. 1957. Three essays on the state of economic science. New York: McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krugman, P. 1993. How I work. American Economist 37(2): 25–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Le Gall, P. 2007. A history of econometrics in France: From nature to models. London: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Leeson, R. 2000. A.W.H. Phillips: Collected works in contemporary perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Lucas, R.E. 1980. Methods and problems in business cycle theory. Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 12: 696–715.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mäki, U. 1992. On the method of isolation ineconomics. In Idealization IV: Intelligibility in science, ed. C. Dilworth. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mäki, U. (ed.). 2002. Fact and fiction in economics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Mäki, M. (ed.). 2007. The methodology of positive economics: Milton Friedman’s essay fifty years later. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall, A.W. 1890. Principles of economics, 8th ed. London: Macmillan. 1930.

    Google Scholar 

  • McMullin, E. 1985. Galilean idealization. Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 16: 247–273.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S. 1990. The history of econometric ideas. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S. 2001. Models, stories and the economic world. Journal of Economic Methodology 8: 361–84. Repr. in Mäki (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S. 2002. Model experiments and models in experiments. In Model-based reasoning: Science, technology, values, ed. L. Magnani and N. Nersessian. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S. 2004a. Imagination and imaging in economic model-building. Philosophy of Science 71: 753–766.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S. 2004b. Simulation: The birth of a technology to create ‘evidence’ in economics. Revue d’Histoire des Sciences 57: 341–377.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S. 2006. Economic man as model man: Ideal types, idealization and caricatures. Journal of the History of Economic Thought 28: 1–27.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S. 2007. The curious case of the Prisoner’s Dilemma: Model situation? Exemplary narrative? In Science without laws: Model systems, cases, and exemplary narratives, ed. A. Creager, E. Lunbeck, and N. Wise. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S. 2008. The world in the model.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morgan, M.S., and M. Morrison. 1999. Models as mediators: Perspectives on natural and social science. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, M., and M.S. Morgan. 1999. Models as mediating instruments. In Morgan and Morrison.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowak, L. 1994. The idealization methodology and econometrics. In Hamminga and De Marchi.

    Google Scholar 

  • Orcutt, G.H. 1960. Simulation of economic systems. American Economic Review 50: 893–907.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pigou, A.C. 1929. The function of economic analysis. The Sidney Ball Lecture, University of Oxford, May. In Economic essays and addresses, ed. D.H. Robertson. London: P.S. King. 1931.

    Google Scholar 

  • Qin, D. 1993. The formation of econometrics. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rappaport, S. 1998. Models and reality in economics. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, L. 1932. An essay on the nature and significance of economic science. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robinson, J. 1933. The economics of imperfect competition. London: Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Samuelson, P.A. 1939. Interactions between the multiplier analysis and the principle of acceleration. Review of Economics and Statistics 21: 75–78.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shubik, M. 1959. Strategy and market structure. New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shubik, M. 1960a. Bibliography on simulation, gaming, artificial intelligence and allied topics. Journal of the American Statistical Association 55: 736–751.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shubik, M. 1960b. Simulation of the industry and the firm. American Economic Review 50: 908–919.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slutsky, E.E. 1927. The summation of random causes as the source of cycle processes. Econometrica 5(1937): 105–146.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sugden, R. 2000. Credible worlds: The status of theoretical models in economics. Journal of Economic Methodology 7: 1–31.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sutton, J. 2000. Marshall’s tendencies: What can economists know? Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinbergen, J. 1937. An econometric approach to business cycle problems. Paris: Hermann.

    Google Scholar 

  • Tinbergen, J. 1939. Statistical testing of business cycle theories. Geneva: League of Nations.

    Google Scholar 

  • Von Thünen, J.H. 1826. Der Isolierte Staat. Hamburg: Perthes. Trans. C. Wartenberg as Von Thünen’s isolated state. Oxford: Pergamon, 1966.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. 1904. ‘Objectivity’ in social science and social policy. In The methodology of the social sciences. Trans. and ed. E.A. Shils and H.A. Finch. New York: Free Press, 1949.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weber, M. 1913. The theory of social and economic organisations, Trans. A.M. Henderson and T. Parsons as Part I of Wirtschaft und Gesellschaft. New York: Free Press, 1947.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weintraub, E.R. 2002. How economics became a mathematical science. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. http://link.springer.com/referencework/10.1007/978-1-349-95121-5

    Mary S. Morgan

Authors
  1. Mary S. Morgan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Copyright information

© 2018 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Morgan, M.S. (2018). Models. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_2171

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation