Causality: Its characterization in system dynamics and KSIM models of socioeconomic systems

Two methodologies—Kane's KSIM and Forrester's system dynamics—for modeling socioeconomic systems are compared and contrasted with regard to the manner in which each characterizes and classifies casuality in socioeconomic systems. The equivalence of the so-called casual diagram used in syst...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Technological forecasting & social change 1979-01, Vol.14 (4), p.387-398
Main Authors: Burns, James R., Marcy, William M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Causality
Dynamic/Dynamics
Socioeconomic (see also Socioeconomic status)
System/Systems
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Two methodologies—Kane's KSIM and Forrester's system dynamics—for modeling socioeconomic systems are compared and contrasted with regard to the manner in which each characterizes and classifies casuality in socioeconomic systems. The equivalence of the so-called casual diagram used in system dynamics to the cross-impact matrix used in KSIM is indicated. Each method identifies exactly two classes of casual links—the similarity between the classes distinguished in system dynamics with those employed in KSIM is suggested. Then the assumptions regarding the nature of causality that are implicit within the two methodologies are compared. In this context techniques for translating linear system-dynamics models to KSIM-like models (and vice versa) are provided. Examples are provided to illustrate the notions discussed in the article.
ISSN:0040-1625
1873-5509
DOI:10.1016/0040-1625(79)90036-2