Bitte verwenden Sie diesen Link, um diese Publikation zu zitieren, oder auf sie als Internetquelle zu verweisen: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/174322 
Erscheinungsjahr: 
2017
Schriftenreihe/Nr.: 
MAGKS Joint Discussion Paper Series in Economics No. 26-2017
Verlag: 
Philipps-University Marburg, School of Business and Economics, Marburg
Zusammenfassung: 
If we take it that, at least in the social sciences, "realistic" implies "finite", then countless economic models involving infinitary assumptions must obviously be classified as unrealistic - for example, models with infinitely divisible goods, a continuum of traders, consumers optimizing over an infinite time horizon, or players optimizing over an infinite number of interactions. We argue that unrealistic models involving infinities can, in principle, supply explanations in economics. We develop a concept of approximate explanation based on the "method of decreasing abstraction", that is, the practice of approximating complex situations through a sequence of increasingly realistic models. Our account of approximate explanation renders the testing view of economic science compatible with scientific realism. However, compatibility does not extend to the folk theorems for infinitely repeated games, which are used widely in applied economics (e.g., in industrial economics) and beyond (e.g., spontaneous emergence of social order). Explanations based on these theorems are rejected by our criterion.
Schlagwörter: 
Approximate explanation
Folk theorems of game theory
Infinite idealizations
Method of decreasing abstraction
Methodology of economics
Unrealistic assumptions
JEL: 
B40
B41
C73
Dokumentart: 
Working Paper

Datei(en):
Datei
Größe
271.79 kB





Publikationen in EconStor sind urheberrechtlich geschützt.