Models, Mathematics, and Methodology in Economic Explanation
Models, Mathematics, and Methodology in Economic Explanation
£108.00
GBPThis 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.
- The process of explanatory model building is broken down methodologically into a five-stage sequence of steps
- Application of the five stages is set out in detail and illustrated by a highly particularized example
- The role of mathematics in model building is examined historically and explored in terms of unquantified variables
Reviews & endorsements
'Professor Katzner has written a brilliant book: engaging, rigorous, and thought-provoking. It should sit on the desk of every economist and Ph.D. student in economics who wishes to tackle issues of contemporary relevance with the rigor and clarity that ought to characterize economics as a social science.' Roberto Veneziani, Queen Mary University of London
'Katzner has written an original and important contribution to the literature on the methodology of economic modeling from a perspective that is seldom represented.' D. Wade Hands, University of Puget Sound, Washington
Product details
November 2017Hardback
9781108418775
258 pages
235 × 156 × 18 mm
0.5kg
3 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- 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.
