Universal ceteris paribus: fractal
Ceteris Paribus - keeping all other factors equal or constant. Fractal Isolation This entry shows that fractals demonstrate that Ceteris Paribus exists in reality and has connections directly to our understanding of reality—even possibly at the atomic scale. Ceteris Paribus is a central assumption behind economic models and analysis—and, of course, unbeknown to others, all science itself. It assumes or sets all other factors equal or constant, allowing us to study the pattern of the object in question. Without it, the 'cause' and the 'effect' would not be discernible—or would be confused in the 'chaos'. I often explain to those outside economics that this is our way of achieving a controlled laboratory experiment. This is also seen as the weakness of economics, as we don't (really) live in a 'ceteris paribus' world; we live in chaos. I would strongly argue—again—that this is the weakness of all the 'sciences'. We may have theories, ...