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Epistemological Status of Models and Thought Experiments in Economics
https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2015-2-123-140
Abstract
The paper considers the analogy of theoretical modeling and thought experiment in economics. The authors provide historical and epistemological analysis of thought experiments and their relations to the material experiments in natural science. They conclude that thought experiments as instruments are used both in physics and in economics, but in radically different ways. In the natural science, a thought experiment is tightly connected to the material experimentation, while in economics it is used in isolation. Material experiments serve as a means to demonstrate the reality, while thought experiments cannot be a full-fledged instrument of studying the reality. Rather, they constitute the instrument of structuring the field of inquiry.
About the Authors
O. Koshovets
Institute of Economics, Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russia)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
T. Varkhotov
Lomonosov Moscow State University (Moscow, Russia)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
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Review
For citations:
Koshovets O., Varkhotov T. Epistemological Status of Models and Thought Experiments in Economics. Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2015;(2):123-140. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.32609/0042-8736-2015-2-123-140
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