When was ceteris paribus-clauses used?
The use of ceteris paribus -clauses was advocated and popularized by Alfred Marshall in the late 19th century. It was Marshall’s genuine contribution to economics to advocate partial equilibrium analysis.
What is ceteris paribus in economics?
In current philosophy of economics and economics, the use of and the debate on “ ceteris paribus ” is a vital issue: Philosophy of Economics. In the debate on philosophy of economics it is widely recognized that generalizations in economics are qualified by a ceteris paribus -clause—yet, its interpretation is controversial.
Do ceteris paribus laws need machines to generate them?
Pemberton, J., and Cartwright, N., 2014, “Ceteris paribus laws need machines to generate them”, Erkenntnis, 79: 1745–1758. Persky, J., 1990, “Ceteris Paribus”, Journal of Economic Perspectives, 4: 187– 193.
What is caeteris paribus?
a complex question, studying one bit at a time, and at last combining his partial solutions into a more or less complete solution of the whole riddle. In breaking it up, he segregates those disturbing causes, whose wanderings happen to be inconvenient, for the time in a pound called Caeteris Paribus. (Marshall 1890, 366)
What does "ceteris paribus" mean?
Ceteris paribus or caeteris paribus ( New Latin: [ˈse.tɛ.ris ˈpa.ri.bus]) is a Latin phrase meaning "other things equal"; English translations of the phrase include " all other things being equal " or " other things held constant " or " all else unchanged ". A prediction or a statement about a causal, empirical, ...
What is the purpose of ceteris paribus assumption?
A ceteris paribus assumption is often key to scientific inquiry, as scientists seek to screen out factors that perturb a relation of interest. Thus epidemiologists, for example, may seek to control independent variables as factors that may influence dependent variables —the outcomes or effects of interest.
How to use the ceteris paribus clause?
The above passage by Marshall highlights two ways in which the ceteris paribus clause may be used: The one is hypothetical, in the sense that some factor is assumed fixed in order to analyse the influence of another factor in isolation. This would be hypothetical isolation. An example would be the hypothetical separation of the income effect and the substitution effect of a price change, which actually go together. The other use of the ceteris paribus clause is to see it as a means for obtaining an approximate solution. Here it would yield a substantive isolation .
What Is Ceteris Paribus?
Ceteris paribus, literally "holding other things constant," is a Latin phrase that is commonly translated into English as "all else being equal." A dominant assumption in mainstream economic thinking, it acts as a shorthand indication of the effect of one economic variable on another, provided all other variables remain the same.
Why do economists use ceteris paribus?
Most, though not all, economists rely on ceteris paribus to build and test economic models. In simple language, it means the economist can hold all variables in the model constant and tinker with them one at a time.
What is the difference between the principle of ceteris paribus and the principle of mutatis mutand?
Conversely, the principle of mutatis mutandis facilitates an analysis of the correlation between the effect of one variable on another, while other variables change at will.
How does Ceteris Paribus help?
Ceteris paribus assumptions help transform an otherwise deductive social science into a methodologically positive "hard" science. It creates an imaginary system of rules and conditions from which economists can pursue a specific end. Put another way; it helps the economist circumvent human nature and the problems of limited knowledge.
Which school of economics believes that Ceteris Paribus assumptions have been taken too far?
The Austrian school of economics believes ceteris paribus assumptions have been taken too far, transforming economics from a useful, logical social science into a series of math problems. Let's go back to the example of supply and demand, one of the favorite uses of ceteris paribus.
Can a ceteris paribus highlight absolutes?
Since economic variables can only be isolated in theory and not in practice, ceteris paribus can only ever highlight tendencies, not absolutes.
When did the phrase "ceteris paribus" become controversial?
Outside the economics literature the use of the ceteris paribus phrase became a central and also controversial issue in some areas of philosophy of science and in philosophy of mind in the 1980s.
What does "ceteris paribus" mean?
The Latin phrase “ceteris paribus” or “caeteris paribus”—literally meaning “other things being equal” —has already been used in a non-technical sense by Cicero. [ 1] . However, most of the early uses of the ceteris paribus-clause are found in economics.
Which critical article by Earman and Roberts 1999 provides an excellent introduction to the contemporary debate?
The critical article by Earman and Roberts 1999 provides an excellent introduction to the contemporary debate, because it reconstructs the most important theories of cp-laws and also points out the problems of these approaches. Earman et al. 2002 contains a representative collection of contemporary essays on the problem of cp-laws.
What is Fodor's starting point for his account of CP-laws?
Fodor's starting point for his account of cp-laws is Davidson's distinction between homonomic and heteronomic generalizations (see section 2.2):
Who was the first to use the term "value"?
In 1662, William Petty was probably the first to use the term in an English language publication. [ 5] In his Treatise of Taxes and Contributions, Petty qualifies his labor theory of value by a “caeteris paribus” clause:
Is Teris Paribus ambiguous?
It has been argued that “ceteris paribus” is an ambiguous notion. Two distinctions will help to disambiguate the notion: the distinction between comparative and exclusive cp-laws (section 2.1), and the distinction between definite and indefinite cp-laws (section 2.2).
Why is it important to use the term "ceteris paribus"?
The term "ceteris paribus" is often used in economics to describe a situation where one determinant of supply or demand changes while all other factors affecting supply and demand remain unchanged. Such an "all else being equal" analysis is important because it allows economists to tease out specific cause and effect in the form ...
What does "ceteris paribus" mean?
Updated March 17, 2017. Definition: Ceteris Paribus means "assuming all else is held constant". The author using ceteris paribus is attempting to distinguish an effect of one kind of change from any others. The term "ceteris paribus" is often used in economics to describe a situation where one determinant of supply or demand changes ...
What is the purpose of Ceteris Paribus?
In economics, ceteris paribus would be the way to approach the study of a certain variable and its relationship with the others, to understand market behavior; it is mainly used to study commercial activities and to understand the behavior of supply and demand.
What does "ceteris paribus" mean?
Origin, Meaning and Examples - JournalNow. Economy. What is Ceteris Paribus? Origin, Meaning and Examples. By w2b6b / February 24, 2021. There is a phrase in Latin, one of the roots of Spanish, which is used in economics to refer to the phenomenon that occurs when two or more variables involved in an event remain constant and another ...
Can Ceteris Paribus be static?
Some experts consider that with ceteris paribus only static analyzes can be carried out, since it prevents the incorporation of facts that tend to affect the phenomenon under study, such as some social variable, which we will talk about later.
Introduction
Ceteris paribus or caeteris paribus is a Latin phrase meaning "other things equal"; English translations of the phrase include "all other things being equal" or "other things held constant" or "all else unchanged". A prediction or a statement about a causal, empirical, or logical relation between two states of affairs is ceteris paribus if it is acknowledged that the prediction, although usually accurate in expected conditions, can fail or the relation can be abolished by intervening f…
History and Background
The Challenge: Exclusive Ceteris Paribus Laws Between Falsity and Triviality
Exclusive Cp-Laws: The Method of Completers
Invariance & Stability Theories
Dispositional Accounts
- 2.1. A brief historical survey: from scholasticism to modern economics
The Latin phrase “ceteris paribus” or “caeterisparibus”—literally meaning “other things beingequal”—has already been used in a non-technical senseby Cicero.[1]However,most of the early uses of the ceteris paribus-clause are found ineconomics. In economic contexts the use of … - 2.2. Background of the contemporary debate
Outside the economics literature the use of theceterisparibusphrase became a central and also controversial issue insome areas of philosophy of science and in philosophy of mind in the1980s. The fact that testprocedures for scientific theories or hypotheses are reliable only ifdisturbing fac…
Normality Theories
- Exclusive cp-laws of the form “exclusively cp, As areCs” admit exceptions, i.e., instantiations of As which are not-Cs(Pietroski and Rey speak of “abnormal” instances; 1995,88). A philosophical reconstruction of exclusive cp-laws—whichincludes restricted comparative cp-laws and, thus, the majority of allcp-laws—faces a severe problem. This problem can be articulated inthe form of a d…
Conclusion
- 5.1. Semantic and epistemic completers
The general idea behind completer approaches is that the best way toexplicate exclusive cp-laws is to add the missing conditions for astrict implication into the antecedent of the law statement. There aretwo quite different possibilities to do this. One possibility is to addthese conditions expli… - 5.2. Criticisms: triviality and accidentality
Several authors have independently shown that completer approachesare unsatisfactory. Earman and Roberts (1999, 454f) provide arguments,which show that an exclusive cp-law in the sense of Pietroski and Reycannot escape the problem of vacuity. Their example is thealleged cp-law “cp, …
Suggested Reading
- The general idea of invariance or stability theories of lawsconsists in the claim that a cp-law is an ‘if-then’assertion which holds true for different if-conditions which are alsocalled antecedent conditions or initial conditions. “Stability” and “invariance” are usually takenas synonyms. For the sake of clarity, we will use“stability” to refer to Lange's stability theory oflaws (section 5.1) and w…