ECO 1102 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Scientific Method, Comparative Advantage, Positive Statement

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Economics
• Course: ECO 1102
• Professor: All

Document Summary

Every field has its own language, and its won way of thinking. Economists talk about supply and demand, elasticity, comparative advantage, consumer surplus. Economists address the study of economy the same way a physicist approaches the study of matter: they devise theories. It isn"t the study of science, but it is a scientific method. Most people aren"t used to looking at society through the eyes of a scientist. The scientific method: observation, theory, and more observation. Experiments are often difficult in economics: economists can only use the data that the world gives them. Economists pay close attention to the natural experiments offered by history. Assumptions can simplify the complex world and make it easier to understand: to understand international trade, one may imagine a world with two countries that only produce two goods. The art of scientific thinking is deciding which assumptions to make: economists use different assumptions to answer different questions. Economists use models to learn about the world.