PART II - CAUSALITY IN ECONOMICS
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2012
Summary
As the essays in this part all argue, when economists make claims about influences and dependencies they are almost always asserting that various factors stand in causal, rather than merely mathematical, relations. Economics is unavoidably full of generalizations about the causes of phenomena, and there is no reason to lament this fact, for there is nothing objectionably metaphysical about causal claims. Moreover, as argued in Chapter 9, clarity about the causal character of economics helps avoid confusions about the relations between models and reality. Furthermore, as the Chapters 10 and 11 argue, recognition that economic generalizations are causal generalizations is crucial to understanding their ceteris paribus conditions and to employing sensibly the methods of comparative statics. These essays are not concerned with issues of theory assessment, but the methodological issues they discuss are nevertheless of importance both to philosophers and to economists.
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- Information
- Essays on Philosophy and Economic Methodology , pp. 107 - 108Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1992