Consider how an economic model can be viewed as a simplified description of reality, designed to yield hypotheses about economic behavior that can be tested. In essence, a simulation. Hence, one important element of an economic model is that it is necessarily subjective in design because there are no objective measures of economic outcomes. If different economists make different judgments about what is needed, how can we tell if a model is ‘useful’? What does this tell us about economic behavior?
A firm that purchases electricity from the local utility for $250,000 per year is considering installing a steam generator at a cost of $280,000. The cost
A firm that purchases electricity from the local utility for $250,000 per year is considering installing a steam generator at a cost of $280,000. The cost of operating this generator would be $170,000 per year, and the generator will last for five years. If the firm buys the generator, it
