Beyond metaphor: Mathematical models in economics as empirical research

When economists report on research using mathematical models, they use a li terary form similar to the experimental report in the laboratory sciences. This form consists of a narrative of a series of events, with a clear tempo ral segregation of the agency of the author and the agency of the objects o f study. Existing explanations of this literary form treat it as a rhetoric al device that either conceals the agency of the author in constructing and interpreting the findings, or simply appropriates the appearance of accept ed (natural-) scientific method. This article - based on analysis of a rese arch program in economics, a single article that issued from that program, and in-depth interviews with the authors - proposes an alternate interpreta tion. Drawing on the praxeological "laboratory studies" tradition in scienc e studies, we treat work with mathematical models as involving the interact ion of economists with objects (models) that act independently of the analy st's will. The clear separation of the economist's and the models agency, a s depicted in the published report, is not the result of a rhetorical rewri ting of actual events, but is a practical accomplishment. Every step in the analytical work that preceded the paper is devoted to developing a procedu re in which the economists' agency will be completely accountable in terms of accepted practices, and the performance of the model will be distinct an d compelling.