Ceteris paribus

Ceteris paribus is a Latin phrase meaning “other things being equal.” It marks a claim as holding while relevant background conditions are treated as fixed.

Controlled experiment: An experiment that varies selected factors while holding others constant to assess their effects. It implements the same isolation of effects that ceteris paribus states in words.
Law of demand: The economic principle that, other things equal, a higher price reduces the quantity demanded. Its familiar price–quantity prediction explicitly depends on holding other influences fixed.
Scientific model: A simplified representation used to describe, explain, or predict features of a system. Ceteris paribus assumptions are one way models simplify complex systems.
Causal law: A general claim that specifies how changes in one factor produce changes in another under stated conditions. Unlike a bare ceteris paribus clause, a causal law asserts a causal connection.
Comparative statics: The analysis of how an equilibrium changes when an external parameter changes. Its conclusions vary one parameter while treating the rest of the model as fixed.
Supply and demand: A model of how prices and quantities emerge from buyers’ demand and sellers’ supply. Its curves describe one relationship at a time under fixed background conditions.
Assumption: A proposition accepted within an argument or model without being established there. The phrase signals a background assumption rather than an unconditional fact.
Ceteris paribus law: A lawlike generalization that holds only when specified interfering conditions are absent or fixed. This is the philosophical and scientific form of a claim explicitly qualified by ceteris paribus.
Partial derivative: A derivative measuring how a function changes with respect to one variable while others are held fixed. It formalizes a ceteris paribus change for functions of several variables.
Elasticity (economics): A measure of the percentage response of one economic variable to a percentage change in another. Elasticity captures a conditional response while other determinants are held constant.

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