IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/jecmet/v19y2012i1p43-62.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The explanation paradox

Author

Listed:
  • Julian Reiss

Abstract

This paper examines mathematical models in economics and observes that three mutually inconsistent hypotheses concerning models and explanation are widely held: (1) economic models are false; (2) economic models are nevertheless explanatory; and (3) only true accounts explain. Commentators have typically resolved the paradox by rejecting either one of these hypotheses. I will argue that none of the proposed resolutions work and conclude that therefore the paradox is genuine and likely to stay.

Suggested Citation

  • Julian Reiss, 2012. "The explanation paradox," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 19(1), pages 43-62, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:19:y:2012:i:1:p:43-62
    DOI: 10.1080/1350178X.2012.661069
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/1350178X.2012.661069
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/1350178X.2012.661069?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Donald W. Katzner, 2016. "The Stages of Model Building in Economics," Studies in Microeconomics, , vol. 4(2), pages 79-99, December.
    2. Momin M. Malik, 2020. "A Hierarchy of Limitations in Machine Learning," Papers 2002.05193, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2020.
    3. Nicolas Brisset, 2018. "Models as speech acts: the telling case of financial models," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(1), pages 21-41, January.
    4. Michael Joffe, 2017. "Causal theories, models and evidence in economics—some reflections from the natural sciences," Cogent Economics & Finance, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 5(1), pages 1280983-128, January.
    5. Asad Zaman & Taseer Salahuddin, 2020. "Models and Reality: How Did Models Divorced from Reality Become Epistemologically Acceptable?," International Econometric Review (IER), Econometric Research Association, vol. 12(1), pages 50-74, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:jecmet:v:19:y:2012:i:1:p:43-62. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/RJEC20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.