This article is based on my talk at the 2019 International System Dynamics Conference on the occasion of receiving the Jay. W. Forrester Award for the article, “Structural dominance analysis of large and stochastic models” (System Dynamics Review 2016, 32(1): 26–51). I summarize here the history of the research project that led to the award‐winning article. I present the evolution of the ideas in a non‐technical way that develops the intuition for how eigenvalue elasticity analysis works and highlights the power of its explanations. I discuss what I believe to be the main benefits of structural dominance analysis and address the major criticisms that have been raised against it, and I close by reflecting on why I believe the capability to formally establish links between structure and behavior will become more salient in a context that pushes for larger models and demands higher standards of evidence.

中文翻译：

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论结构优势分析

本文基于我在2019年国际系统动力学大会上收到Jay之际的演讲。W. Forrester奖，“大型和随机模型的结构优势分析”（《系统动力学评论》， 2016年，32（1）：26-51）。我在这里总结了导致获奖论文的研究项目的历史。我以非技术的方式介绍了思想的演变，从而发展了本征值弹性分析的直觉作品并突出其解释的力量。我讨论了我认为结构优势分析的主要好处，并解决了针对结构优势分析的主要批评。最后，我总结了为什么我认为在结构和行为之间正式建立结构联系的能力将变得更加突出的原因。需要更大模型和更高标准证据的环境。