REPLY Meaning of Stock/Level (SD6906)

[SDMAIL Richard Dudley]

Posted by  Richard Dudley <rgd6 at cornell.edu>

Alan states that stocks should represent only "quantities of materials" and
should not be used to represent soft variables.  

But I believe that the use of stocks to represent soft variables is
widespread in SD modeling and, in fact, is encouraged.  I believe that the
use of stocks in this manner is perfectly legitimate.  

Something like "trust" is a real thing in ones mind.  It ebbs and flows in
response to many influences.  At any given point in time a person will have
a given amount of trust in a policy or a politician (for example), and this
trust will affect other model components such as "compliance with policy" or
"support for a politician".  

I don't see any reason why soft variables cannot be represented as stocks.
Perhaps I misunderstood a the question?
Posted by  Richard Dudley <rgd6 at cornell.edu>
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