Analysing the Structure of Economic Models

Understanding the structure of a large econometric model is rather like the art of winetasting or like the art of playing a musical instrument. The quality of a wine results from a complex combination of various elements such as its colour which should be clear and crystalline, its smell which can be decomposed into a general aroma and a variety of particular characteristics, more or less persistent depending on the type and the age of the wine, its taste, of course, which again is a complex system whose equilibrium and charm depend on the whole set of ingredients: alcohol, tannin, glycerine, sugar, acidity . . . Similarly, a clarinetist's musicianship depends on the quality of his instrument, on his embouchure, fingering, tonguing and articu lation techniques, on his sense for rhythm, phasing and tone colour. However, the enchantment produced by a Romanee-Conti or by a brilliant performance of Brahm's F minor sonata for clarinet and piano arises from a process which is at the same time time much simpler and much more complex than the straightforward juxtaposition of individual causal relations. In recent years econometricians and macro-economists have been challenged by the problem of keeping abreast with an ever increasing number of increasingly more complex large econometric models. The necessity of developing systematic analytical tools to study the often implicit and hidden structure of these models has become more evident.

Inhalt
I: Qualitative Analysis.- 1. Qualitative Structural Analysis: Game or Science?.- 2. Two Approaches in Reading Model Interdependencies.- 3. Reading Macroeconomic Models and Building Causal Structures.- 4. Structural Analysis, Hierarchical Functions, and Poor Structures.- 5. Rationing and Aggregation in a Multi-level Model of Household Behaviour: the SABINE model.- II: Quantitative Analysis.- 6. Semi-reduced Forms of Econometric Models.- 7. The Dynamics of a Discrete Version of a Growth Cycle Model.- 8. The Structure of Rational Expectations Behaviour in Economics: an empirical view.- 9. The Disequilibrium Theory in Macroeconomic Models: a small scale model.- 10. The Monetary Sector of the Netherlands in 50 Equations.- 11. Specification of the Import Function and the Determination of Short and Long Term Equilibria in Macroeconomic Models.- 12. An Alternative to Debreu's Dated and Located Commodities.