# The Constraint Deficit

Complex social systems allow many mechanisms to generate similar aggregate patterns. Data, models and computation may expand rapidly while causal constraints remain scarce. The resulting deficit encourages explanatory systems that are detailed, plausible and weakly discriminating.

The paper would connect model flexibility, equifinality, observational equivalence, causal identification and institutional incentives. Its central proposition is that explanatory failure often comes not from a lack of possible stories but from a lack of observations capable of ruling stories out.