On the Structural Form of Interdependent Systems

Publisher Summary This chapter concentrates on the structural form of interdependent systems. A great deal of effort is devoted in econometrics and elsewhere to find the behavior pattern of an observed configuration. Such effort is justified on the grounds that the knowledge of the behavior pattern is needed for the purpose of giving explanation or prediction. The merits of this justification are also examined in the chapter. At this point, the chapter considers certain difficulties encountered in the process of looking for the behavior patterns. In certain fields, notably economics (but also— for example, electronic network theory), it deals with a set (configuration) of objects (components) that are interdependent in their behavior. For purposes of both theoretical analysis and empirical investigation of such situations, the phenomena are often described in the chapter (in idealized form) by means of a system of simultaneous equations. History alone is not enabled to determine the behavior pattern of the configuration; but this does not mean that the task is hopeless. The priori information is obtained from the axiom systems or theories that are believed to be relevant to the behavior pattern of the configuration.