IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/spa/wpaper/2017wpecon22.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Transforming the Abstract into Concrete: The Dual Semantic Roots of Economic Modelling

Author

Listed:
  • Arthur Brackmann Netto
  • Marcelo Milan

Abstract

The existing connotation of models in economics emerged only in the XXth century, substituting the previous methodological terms: ‘scheme’, ‘diagram’ and ‘system’. This immature characteristic of economic models provokes important questions: when exactly and why schemes, diagrams, and systems became models? The purpose of the present paper is to look into the history of economic thought, searching for some explanations regarding these changes. The problem will be observed from a semantic point of view, reformulating a broad view of how the term was introduced. Considering this, the paper analyzes how the combination of cartesian and newtonian mathematics with psychological and empirical economics occurred, paving the way for the insertion of the term model into the jargon of economists in two different manners. The review shows that there were two semantic pioneers: Tinbergen (1935) and Von Neumann (1945). Both were the first economists to use the term ‘model’ for pure abstract reasoning in each of their respective methodologies.

Suggested Citation

  • Arthur Brackmann Netto & Marcelo Milan, 2017. "Transforming the Abstract into Concrete: The Dual Semantic Roots of Economic Modelling," Working Papers, Department of Economics 2017_22, University of São Paulo (FEA-USP).
    • Handle: RePEc:spa:wpaper:2017wpecon22
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.repec.eae.fea.usp.br/documentos/Netto_Milan_22WP.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claude Ménard, 1980. "Three Forms of Resistance to Statistics: Say, Cournot, Walras," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 12(4), pages 524-541, Winter.
    2. Yann Giraud & Pedro Duarte, 2016. "The Place of the History of Economic Thought in Mainstream Economics, 1991-2011, Viewed Through a Bibliographic Survey," Post-Print hal-02980171, HAL.
    3. Lawrence Birken, 1988. "From Macroeconomics to Microeconomics: The Marginalist Revolution in Sociocultural Perspective," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 20(2), pages 251-264, Summer.
    4. Ivan Moscati, 2013. "Were Jevons, Menger, and Walras Really Cardinalists? On the Notion of Measurement in Utility Theory, Psychology, Mathematics, and Other Disciplines, 1870-1910," History of Political Economy, Duke University Press, vol. 45(3), pages 373-414, Fall.
    5. Duarte, Pedro Garcia & Giraud, Yann, 2016. "The Place Of The History Of Economic Thought In Mainstream Economics, 1991–2011, Viewed Through A Bibliographic Survey," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(4), pages 431-462, December.
    6. Besomi, Daniele, 2011. "Crises As A Disease Of The Body Politick. A Metaphor In The History Of Nineteenth-Century Economics," Journal of the History of Economic Thought, Cambridge University Press, vol. 33(1), pages 67-118, March.
    7. Hausman,Daniel M., 1992. "The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521415019, December.
    8. Hausman,Daniel M., 1992. "The Inexact and Separate Science of Economics," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521425230, December.
    9. O. L. Williams, 1934. "Suggestions for Constructing a Model of a Production Function," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 1(3), pages 231-234.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Suzuki, Tomo, 2003. "The accounting figuration of business statistics as a foundation for the spread of economic ideas," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 65-95, January.
    2. Kevin D. Hoover, 2016. "The Crisis in Economic Theory: A Review Essay," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 54(4), pages 1350-1361, December.
    3. Itzhak Gilboa & Andrew Postlewaite & Larry Samuelson & David Schmeidler, 2011. "Economic Models as Analogies," PIER Working Paper Archive 12-001, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    4. Kakarot-Handtke, Egmont, 2013. "The Ideal Economy: A Prototype," MPRA Paper 51582, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    5. Mur, Jesús & Angulo, Ana, 2009. "Model selection strategies in a spatial setting: Some additional results," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(2), pages 200-213, March.
    6. Itzhak Gilboa & Andrew Postlewaite & Larry Samuelson & David Schmeidler, 2014. "A Model of Modeling," PIER Working Paper Archive 14-026, Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania.
    7. Miguel A. Duran, 2007. "Mathematical Needs and Economic Interpretations," Contributions to Political Economy, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 26(1), pages 1-16.
    8. Ole Røgeberg & Morten Nordberg, 2005. "A defence of absurd theories in economics," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(4), pages 543-562.
    9. Schaefer, Alexander, 2021. "Rationality, uncertainty, and unanimity: an epistemic critique of contractarianism," Economics and Philosophy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 37(1), pages 82-117, March.
    10. Joshua M. Epstein, 2007. "Agent-Based Computational Models and Generative Social Science," Introductory Chapters, in: Generative Social Science Studies in Agent-Based Computational Modeling, Princeton University Press.
    11. Giuseppe Garofalo, 2014. "Irreducible complexities: from Gödel and Turing to the paradigm of Imperfect Knowledge Economics," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 3463-3474, November.
    12. Giandomenica Becchio, 2020. "The Two Blades of Occam's Razor in Economics: Logical and Heuristic," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 9(1), pages 1-17, July.
    13. Smith, Peter, 2009. "Induction, complexity, and economic methodology," MPRA Paper 12693, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Kevin D. Hoover, "undated". "Econometrics And Reality," Department of Economics 97-28, California Davis - Department of Economics.
    15. Julian Reiss, 2001. "Natural economic quantities and their measurement," Journal of Economic Methodology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 287-311.
    16. Ivan Moscati, 2022. "Behavioral and heuristic models are as-if models too — and that’s ok," BAFFI CAREFIN Working Papers 22177, BAFFI CAREFIN, Centre for Applied Research on International Markets Banking Finance and Regulation, Universita' Bocconi, Milano, Italy.
    17. Castle, Emery N., 2000. "The Economics Of Rural Places And Agricultural Economics," 2000 Annual Meeting, June 29-July 1, 2000, Vancouver, British Columbia 36361, Western Agricultural Economics Association.
    18. Thomas Mayer, 1998. "Indexed Bonds And Heterogeneous Agents," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 16(1), pages 77-84, January.
    19. Thomas E. Chamberlain, 1998. "On the psychological basis of economics and social psychology," ERSA conference papers ersa98p396, European Regional Science Association.
    20. Daniel Serra, 2019. "La neuroéconomie en question : débats et controverses," CEE-M Working Papers halshs-02160911, CEE-M, Universtiy of Montpellier, CNRS, INRA, Montpellier SupAgro.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Economic Models; Semantic; Tinbergen; Von Neumann;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B23 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought since 1925 - - - Econometrics; Quantitative and Mathematical Studies
    • B31 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought: Individuals - - - Individuals

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:spa:wpaper:2017wpecon22. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Pedro Garcia Duarte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deuspbr.html .

    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.