Generate QR code
Open Access
Subscription Access
Models Are Experiments, Experiments Are Models
https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2008-11-81-89
Abstract
The article shows that a model is a representation of something beyond itself in the sense of being used as a representative of that something, and in prompting questions of resemblance between the model and that something. Models are substitute systems that are directly examined in order to indirectly acquire information about their target systems. An economic experiment is an arrangement seeking to isolate a fragment of the world by controlling for causally relevant things outside that fragment. It is suggested that many theoretical models are (‘thought’) experiments, and that many ordinary experiments are (‘material’) models. The major difference between the two is that the controls effecting the required isolation are based on material manipulations in one case, and on assumptions in the other.
References
1. Binmore K. Why experiment in economics? // Economic Journal. 1999. Vol. 109, No 453. P. F16-F24.
2. Guala F. On the scope of experiments in economics: comments on Siakantaris // Cambridge Journal of Economics. 2002. Vol. 26, No 2. P. 261-267.
3. Guala F. The problem of external validity (or 'parallelism') in experimental economics // Social Science Information. 1999. Vol. 38, No 4. P. 555-573.
4. Loewenstein G. Experimental economics from the vantage point of behavioural economics // Economic Journal 1999. Vol. 109, No 453. P. F25-F34.
5. Loewenstein G. Op. cit..
6. Loomes G. Some lessons from past experiments and some challenges for the future // Economic Journal. 1999. Vol. 109, No 453. P. F35-F45.
7. Lucas R. Jr. Methods and problems in business cycle theory // Journal of Money, Credit and Banking1980. Vol. 12, No 4. Р. 696.
8. Mäki U. Kinds of assumptions and their truth: Shaking an untwisted F-twist // Kyklos. 2000. Vol. 53. P. 303-322.
9. Mäki U. Realism and the nature of theory: A lesson from J. H. von Thьnen for economists and geographers // Environment and Planning. 2004. A 36. P. 1719-1736.
10. Mäki U. Some truths about truth for economists, their critics and clients // Economic Policy-Making under Uncertainty: The Role of Truth and Accountability in Policy Advice / P. Mooslechner, H. Schuberth, M. Schьrtz (eds.). Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 2004. P. 9-39.
11. Mäki U. Theoretical isolation and explanatory progress: transaction cost economics and the dynamics of dispute // Cambridge Journal of Economics. 2004. Vol. 28, No 3. P. 319-346.
12. Mäki U. Models are experiments, experiments are models // Journal of Economic Methodology. 2005. Vol. 12, No 2. P. 303-315.
13. Mäki U. Models // The International Encyclopedia of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Vol. 5. Oxford: Elsevier, 2001. P. 9931-9937.
14. Mäki U. On the method of isolation in economics // Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities. 1992. Vol. 26. P. 19-54.
15. Models as Mediators / M. Morgan, M. Morrison (eds). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.
16. Musgrave A. 'Unreal assumptions' in economic theory: The F-twist untwisted // Kyklos. 1981. Vol. 34. P. 377-387.
17. Plott C. Industrial organization theory and experimental economics // Journal of Economic Literature.1982. Vol. 20, No 4. Р. 1520.
18. Plott C. Will economics become an experimental science? // Southern Economic Journal 1991. 57, No 4. P. 906.
19. Siakantaris N. Experimental economics under the microscope // Cambridge Journal of Economics. 2000. Vol. 24, No 3. P. 267-281.
20. Smith V. Microeconomic systems as an experimental science // American Economic Review. 1982 Vol. 72, No 5. P. 923-955.
21. Starmer C. Experiments in economics: should we trust the dismal scientists in white coats? // Journal of Economic Methodology. 1999. Vol. 6, No 1. P. 1-30.
22. Starmer C. Experiments in economics: should we trust the dismal scientists in white coats?
23. Sugden R. Credible worlds. The status of theoretical models in economics // Fact and Fiction in Economics. Models, Realism, and Social Construction / U. Mäki (ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. P. 107-136.
24. V. Theory, experiment and economics // Journal of Economic Perspectives. 1989. Vol. 3, No 13. Р. 154.
25. Wilde L. L. On the use of laboratory experiments in economics // Philosophy in Economics / J. Pitt (ed.). Dordrecht: Reidel, 1982. P. 137-148.
Review
For citations:
Mäki U. Models Are Experiments, Experiments Are Models. Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2008;(11):81-89. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2008-11-81-89
Views:
1053
Email this article 
