Social scientists – and economists in particular – analyze the world using simple conceptual frameworks that they call “models.” The virtue of such models is that they make explicit the chain of cause and effect, and therefore render transparent the specific assumptions on which a particular prediction rests.
社会科学所能提供的最好东西实际上也没多大差别。社会科学家——特别是经济学家——使用简单的概念框架——他们口中的“模型”——来分析世界。这种模型的优点在于能展现出清晰的因果链条，从而使一个特定的预测可以明确构建于一个特定的假设之上、。