Models, Mathematics, and Methodology in Economic Explanation

Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-1-108-41877-5
Verlag: Cambridge University Press

Buch, Englisch, 258 Seiten, Format (B × H): 157 mm x 235 mm, Gewicht: 532 g

This book provides a practitioner's foundation for the process of explanatory model building, breaking down that process into five stages. Donald W. Katzner presents a concrete example with unquantified variable values to show how the five-stage procedure works. He describes what is involved in explanatory model building for those interested in this practice, while simultaneously providing a guide for those actually engaged in it. The combination of Katzner's focus on modeling and on mathematics, along with his focus on the explanatory performance of modeling, promises to become an important contribution to the field.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Katzner, Donald W.

Fachgebiete

• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftswissenschaften Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Wirtschaftssysteme, Wirtschaftsstrukturen
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wirtschaftsgeschichte
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Geschichte der VWL
• Wirtschaftswissenschaften Volkswirtschaftslehre Volkswirtschaftslehre Allgemein Wirtschaftstheorie, Wirtschaftsphilosophie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction; 1. Science and economics; 2. Economic models and explanation; 3. The stages of model building in economics; 4. Models and mathematics; 5. Models and measurement (or lack thereof); 6. Issues relating to the construction of models from scratch; 7. An example: the efficiency of organizational forms; 8. The implicit assumption requirements of later-stage model building; 9. Ordinality and the adequacy of analytic specification; 10. Categories of models; 11. Conclusion.

Über Autor(innen)

Katzner, Donald W.
Donald W. Katzner is Professor of Economics and former Department Chair at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. His published research has spanned several areas, including: microeconomic and general equilibrium theory; the methodology of building models and of analyzing phenomena when measures of appropriate variables are neither available nor reasonably constructible; the analysis of uncertain economic phenomena when it is inappropriate to employ notions of probability; the impact of culture on economic behavior; and organizational issues within the economic firm.