Using Theoretical Models to Analyze Real Party Systems

Author(s):  
Michael Laver ◽  
Ernest Sergenti

Having specified theoretical models of multiparty competition in the first ten chapters of the book, this chapter analyzes recent party competition in postwar democracies in order to verify whether the empirical implications of the party competition model can indeed be systematically observed in real party competition. This is easy to say but hard to do in a rigorous way. Fundamental difficulties arise from two distinct sources. The first concerns calibration of key parameters of the model to the real political environments it is used to analyze. The second concerns data, specifically the need for reliable empirical observations of the real world that can be compared with theoretical implications of our model. The chapter discusses these two methodological problems before moving on to compare empirical implications generated by the model, calibrated to real party systems, with empirical observations of these same party systems.

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (23) ◽  
pp. eaba0504
Author(s):  
David Melamed ◽  
Brent Simpson ◽  
Jered Abernathy

Prosocial behavior is paradoxical because it often entails a cost to one’s own welfare to benefit others. Theoretical models suggest that prosociality is driven by several forms of reciprocity. Although we know a great deal about how each of these forms operates in isolation, they are rarely isolated in the real world. Rather, the topological features of human social networks are such that people are often confronted with multiple types of reciprocity simultaneously. Does our current understanding of human prosociality break down if we account for the fact that the various forms of reciprocity tend to co-occur in nature? Results of a large experiment show that each basis of human reciprocity is remarkably robust to the presence of other bases. This lends strong support to existing models of prosociality and puts theory and research on firmer ground in explaining the high levels of prosociality observed in human social networks.


2004 ◽  
Vol 07 (02) ◽  
pp. 285-288 ◽  
Author(s):  
NIGEL GILBERT

The preceding papers have shown the impressive versatility and potential of agent-based modeling in developing an understanding of industrial and labor dynamics. The main attraction of agent-based models is that the actors — firms, workers, and networks — that are the objects of study in the 'real world,' can be represented directly in the model. This one-to-one correspondence between model agents and economic actors provides greater clarity and more opportunities for analysis than many alternative modeling approaches. However, the advantages of agent-based modeling have to be tempered by disadvantages and as yet unsolved methodological problems. In this brief summary drawn from the discussion at the closing session of WILD@ACE, we review three of these open problems in the context of the papers presented at the conference: How can agent-based models be empirically validated? What criteria should be used to evaluate the explanatory success of agent-based models? And how can the conclusions of research on similar topics be integrated?


2010 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 100-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne K. Bothe

This article presents some streamlined and intentionally oversimplified ideas about educating future communication disorders professionals to use some of the most basic principles of evidence-based practice. Working from a popular five-step approach, modifications are suggested that may make the ideas more accessible, and therefore more useful, for university faculty, other supervisors, and future professionals in speech-language pathology, audiology, and related fields.


2006 ◽  
Vol 40 (7) ◽  
pp. 47
Author(s):  
LEE SAVIO BEERS
Keyword(s):  

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lawrence A. Cunningham
Keyword(s):  

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