“I defend the relevance of fiction for social science investigation. Novels can be useful for making some economic approaches -- such as behavioral economics or signaling theory -- more plausible. Novels are more like models than is commonly believed. Some novels present verbal models of reality. I interpret other novels as a kind of simulation, akin to how simulations are used in economics. Economics can, and has, profited from the insights contained in novels. Nonetheless, while novels and models lie along a common spectrum, they differ in many particulars. I attempt a partial account of why we sometimes look to models for understanding, and other times look to novels,’ writes Tyler Cowen in his paper “Is a novel a Model?” published in “The Street Porter and the Philosopher”.

I’m sure that the idea that a novel can be used for social science investigation will offend many literary critics, and perhaps even some readers, but it's hard to deny that a novel offers a model of reality.
Unfortunately, most teachers and many critics believe that even “serious literature” has nothing but platitudes to offer. War is bad; unfaithfulness can lead to suicide; too much ambition equals recklessness.

Part of the problem is that the true insights that the novel might have to offer cannot be reduced to statements that fit on a Post-it note.