Abstract
Good scientific explanations sometimes appear to make use of averages. Using concrete examples from current economic theory, I argue that some confusions about how averages might work in explanations lead to both philosophical and economic problems about the interpretation of the theory. I formulate general conditions on potentially proper uses of averages to refine a notion of average explanation. I then try to show how this notion provides a means for resolving longstanding philosophical problems in economics and other quantitative social sciences.
Some of the ideas in this essay were presented at the Philosophy of Economics II Conference at Tilburg University. I thank the participants for helpful remarks.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Arrow, K. J.: 1968, ‘Mathematical Models in the Social Sciences’, in M. Brodbeck (ed.), Readings in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences, Macmillan, New York.
Arrow, K. and F. Hahn: 1971, General Competitive Analysis, Holden-Day, San Franscisco.
Deaton, A. and J. Muellbauer: 1980, Economics and Consumer Behavior, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Friedman, M: 1976, Price Theory, Aldine, Chicago.
Hahn, F.: 1984, Equilibrium and Macroeconomics, MIT Press, Cambridge.
Handler, E. W.: 1980, ‘The Role of Utility and of Statistical Concepts in Empirical Economic Theories: The Empirical Claims of the Systems of Aggregate Market Supply and Demand Functions Approach’, Erkenntnis 15, 129–157.
Händler, E. W.: 1982, ‘Ramsey-Elimination of Utility in Utility Maximizing Regression Approaches’, in Stegmuller, W. et al., eds.
Lipsey, R.: 1963, Introduction to Positive Economics, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, London.
Marshall, A.: 1890 [1961], Principles of Economics (9th ed.), Macmillan, New York.
Nelson, A.: 1984, ‘Some Issues Surrounding the Reduction of Macroeconomics to Microeconomics’, Philosophy of Science 51, 573–594.
Nelson, A.: 1986a, ‘Explanation and Justification in Political Philosophy’, Ethics 97, 154–176.
Nelson, A.: 1986b, ‘New Individualistic Foundations for Economics’, Nous 20, 469–490.
Nelson, A.: (forthcoming), ‘Human Molecules’.
Quirk, J. and R. Saposnik: 1968, Introduction to General Equilibrium Analysis and Welfare Economics, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Rosenberg, A.: 1976, Microeconomic Laws, University of Pittsburgh Press, Pittsburgh.
Sargent, T. J.: 1979, Macroeconomic Theory, Academic Press, New York.
Sheffrin, S. M.: 1983, Rational Expectations, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Stegmüller, W., W. Balzer and W. Spohn (eds.): 1982, Philosophy of Economics, Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
Stigler, G. J.: 1965, ‘The Early History of Empirical Studies of Consumer Behavior’, in Essays in the History of Economics, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Varian, H.: 1984, Microeconomic Analysis (2nd ed.), Norton, New York.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1989 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Nelson, A. (1989). Average Explanations. In: Balzer, W., Hamminga, B. (eds) Philosophy of Economics. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2319-5_3
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-2319-5_3
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-7542-8
Online ISBN: 978-94-009-2319-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive