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

Arthur Brackmann Netto () and Marcelo Milan

No 2017_22, Working Papers, Department of Economics from University of São Paulo (FEA-USP)

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.

Keywords: Economic Models; Semantic; Tinbergen; Von Neumann (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B23 B31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-10-30
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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