Analogue Computing Techniques Applied to Economics

A wide variety of models of interest to economists may be represented by electrical circuits. These models therefore lend themselves to investigation by use of an electrical analogue computer. The economist may study a model with any of three questions in mind: What are its topological features? What is its quantitative behavior for given parameters? What are good estimates of the parameters? This paper shows that analog computing techniques may be useful in helping economists answer all three of these questions.