ABSTRACT

Idealizations help us understand the world by simplifying it. When factors make discrete contributions to an outcome, leaving factors out can make it easier to identify the contributions of factors that remain. But typically in economics, factors are not discrete but interact; how can isolating some factor X from some factor Y help us understand a reality in which X’s contribution depends on what Y contributes? I argue that Ronald Coase’s method in ‘The Problem of Social Cost’ illustrates how idealization can aid our understanding of a world in which factor Y (transaction costs) has an effect on factor X (transactions), by making plain precisely that effect, and so making it easier to see features of the actual world that obtain because of that effect. ‘Coasean’ idealization is therefore especially useful for understanding targets in which factors are not discrete but interact, as is so often the case in economics.

摘要

理想化通过简化世界来帮助我们理解世界。当因素对结果做出离散贡献时，将因素排除在外可以更容易地识别剩余因素的贡献。但通常在经济学中，因素不是离散的而是相互作用的；将某些因素 X 与某些因素 Y 分开如何帮助我们理解 X 的贡献取决于 Y 的贡献的现实？我认为罗纳德·科斯在“社会成本问题”中的方法说明了理想化如何帮助我们理解一个因素 Y（交易成本）对因素 X（交易）产生影响的世界，通过准确地阐明这种影响，和因此，更容易看到由于这种效果而获得的现实世界的特征。