… Models are, by definition, simplifications of reality and are necessarily incomplete. If they were complete descriptions of reality, they would be reality itself and too complex for us to understand.
Critiques focused on the fact that models are sometimes wrong and don’t include all possible sources of human behavior are simply critiquing models for, well, being models. …
The question models present is, “Can we learn something about a reality too complex to apprehend by simplifying it and looking at a few factors?” And the occasional mistake doesn’t obviate the fact that the models reveal some important things about the world of politics. CONT.
Mark Mellman (Mellman Group), The Hill