Functions and mechanisms in structural-modelling explanations

Guillaume Wunsch, Michel Mouchart () and Federica Russo
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Guillaume Wunsch: Université catholique de Louvain, Demography, Belgium
Michel Mouchart: Université catholique de Louvain, CORE & ISBA, Belgium
Federica Russo: Center Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

No 2012056, LIDAM Discussion Papers CORE from Université catholique de Louvain, Center for Operations Research and Econometrics (CORE)

Abstract: One way the social scientists explain phenomena is by building structural models. These models are explanatory insofar as they manage to perform a recursive decomposition on an initial multivariate probability distribution, which can be interpreted as a mechanism. The social scientists should include the variables in the model on the basis of their function in the mechanism. This paper examines the notion of ‘function’ within structural modelling. We argue that ‘functions’ ought to be understood as the theoretical underpinnings of the causes, namely as the role that causes play in the functioning of the mechanism.

Keywords: causality; explanation; function; mechanism; recursive decomposition; structural modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012-12-31
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cor:louvco:2012056

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