endogenisen

Endogenize (Dutch: endogeniseren) is the process of making a variable, mechanism, or factor endogenous—that is, determined within a system or model rather than imposed from outside. The term is used across disciplines including economics, sociology, political science, ecology, and epidemiology, and it contrasts with exogenous factors, which are treated as given.

The concept describes a shift in analytical framing: factors once treated as external inputs are instead modeled as outcomes or constraints that arise from the internal dynamics of the system. This often involves specifying causal mechanisms, feedback loops, or interactions that generate the variable of interest within the model.

Examples include: In economic theory, endogenizing technology or human capital by deriving them from investment decisions and education choices rather than assuming a fixed path; in organizational or political science, endogenizing institutions by modeling how rules and norms develop in response to incentives and outcomes; in ecology or epidemiology, population sizes, disease transmission, or environmental changes can be endogenized through ecological or epidemiological dynamics.

Methods: Endogenizing typically requires structural modeling, theoretical derivation, and sometimes empirical strategies to identify causal relationships with feedback. The process can reveal interactions and policy feedbacks missed if the factor is treated exogenously. However, endogenization can complicate models and estimation, and should be grounded in plausible mechanisms and data.

See also: Endogeneity, Exogeneity, Endogenous variables, Structural modeling.