Abstract for: Constructing Local Stories for Global Insight: Detecting Dominant Structure in Forrester’s Market Growth Model

Simulation reveals what the consequence of feedback structures is, however, it remains silent and mysterious about why. Identifying the dominant structure to uncover why a system does what it does has been one of the central challenges in system dynamics modeling practices. Using pathway participation metrics, this paper applies both explanations in Forester’s classic market growth model to identify the dominant feedback structure for the observed behavior under alternative assumptions. It shows that the results are consistent with Forrester’s intuitive explanation. This paper offers some heuristic of understanding oscillatory systems.