The Philosophy Of Causality In Economics

Author : Mariusz Maziarz
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 223 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 2020-05-13
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781000069105

Get Book

The Philosophy of Causality in Economics by Mariusz Maziarz Pdf

Approximately one in six top economic research papers draws an explicitly causal conclusion. But what do economists mean when they conclude that A ‘causes’ B? Does ‘cause’ say that we can influence B by intervening on A, or is it only a label for the correlation of variables? Do quantitative analyses of observational data followed by such causal inferences constitute sufficient grounds for guiding economic policymaking? The Philosophy of Causality in Economics addresses these questions by analyzing the meaning of causal claims made by economists and the philosophical presuppositions underlying the research methods used. The book considers five key causal approaches: the regularity approach, probabilistic theories, counterfactual theories, mechanisms, and interventions and manipulability. Each chapter opens with a summary of literature on the relevant approach and discusses its reception among economists. The text details case studies, and goes on to examine papers which have adopted the approach in order to highlight the methods of causal inference used in contemporary economics. It analyzes the meaning of the causal claim put forward, and finally reconstructs the philosophical presuppositions accepted implicitly by economists. The strengths and limitations of each method of causal inference are also considered in the context of using the results as evidence for policymaking. This book is essential reading to those interested in literature on the philosophy of economics, as well as the philosophy of causality and economic methodology in general.

Author : Hsiang-Ke Chao,Szu-Ting Chen,Roberta L. Millstein
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 256 pages
File Size : 42,7 Mb
Release : 2013-07-31
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9789400724549

Get Book

Mechanism and Causality in Biology and Economics by Hsiang-Ke Chao,Szu-Ting Chen,Roberta L. Millstein Pdf

This volume addresses fundamental issues in the philosophy of science in the context of two most intriguing fields: biology and economics. Written by authorities and experts in the philosophy of biology and economics, Mechanism and Causality in Biology and Economics provides a structured study of the concepts of mechanism and causality in these disciplines and draws careful juxtapositions between philosophical apparatus and scientific practice. By exploring the issues that are most salient to the contemporary philosophies of biology and economics and by presenting comparative analyses, the book serves as a platform not only for gaining mutual understanding between scientists and philosophers of the life sciences and those of the social sciences, but also for sharing interdisciplinary research that combines both philosophical concepts in both fields. The book begins by defining the concepts of mechanism and causality in biology and economics, respectively. The second and third parts investigate philosophical perspectives of various causal and mechanistic issues in scientific practice in the two fields. These two sections include chapters on causal issues in the theory of evolution; experiments and scientific discovery; representation of causal relations and mechanism by models in economics. The concluding section presents interdisciplinary studies of various topics concerning extrapolation of life sciences and social sciences, including chapters on the philosophical investigation of conjoining biological and economic analyses with, respectively, demography, medicine and sociology.

Author : Nancy Cartwright
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 250 pages
File Size : 52,8 Mb
Release : 2007-05-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781139462549

Get Book

Hunting Causes and Using Them by Nancy Cartwright Pdf

Hunting Causes and Using Them argues that causation is not one thing, as commonly assumed, but many. There is a huge variety of causal relations, each with different characterizing features, different methods for discovery and different uses to which it can be put. In this collection of new and previously published essays, Nancy Cartwright provides a critical survey of philosophical and economic literature on causality, with a special focus on the currently fashionable Bayes-nets and invariance methods - and it exposes a huge gap in that literature. Almost every account treats either exclusively how to hunt causes or how to use them. But where is the bridge between? It's no good knowing how to warrant a causal claim if we don't know what we can do with that claim once we have it. This book will interest philosophers, economists and social scientists.

Author : Kevin D. Hoover
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 330 pages
File Size : 43,7 Mb
Release : 2001-08-13
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0521002885

Get Book

Causality in Macroeconomics by Kevin D. Hoover Pdf

First published in 2001, Causality in Macroeconomics addresses the long-standing problems of causality while taking macroeconomics seriously. The practical concerns of the macroeconomist and abstract concerns of the philosopher inform each other. Grounded in pragmatic realism, the book rejects the popular idea that macroeconomics requires microfoundations, and argues that the macroeconomy is a set of structures that are best analyzed causally. Ideas originally due to Herbert Simon and the Cowles Commission are refined and generalized to non-linear systems, particularly to the non-linear systems with cross-equation restrictions that are ubiquitous in modern macroeconomic models with rational expectations (with and without regime-switching). These ideas help to clarify philosophical as well as economic issues. The structural approach to causality is then used to evaluate more familiar approaches to causality due to Granger, LeRoy and Glymour, Spirtes, Scheines and Kelly, as well as vector autoregressions, the Lucas critique, and the exogeneity concepts of Engle, Hendry and Richard.

Author : Peter Róna,László Zsolnai
Publisher : Springer Nature
Page : 178 pages
File Size : 55,8 Mb
Release : 2019-11-07
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9783030261146

Get Book

Agency and Causal Explanation in Economics by Peter Róna,László Zsolnai Pdf

This open access book provides an exploration of the consequences of the ontological differences between natural and social objects (sometimes described as objects of nature and objects of thought) in the workings of causal and agency relationships. One of its important and possibly original conclusions is that causal and agency relationships do not encompass all of the dependent relationships encountered in social life. The idea that social reality is contingent has been known (and largely undisputed) at least since Wittgenstein’s “On Certainty”, but social science, and most notably economics has continued to operate on the basis of causal and agency theories borrowed or adapted from the natural sciences. This volume contains essays that retain and justify the partial or qualified use of this approach and essays that totally reject any use of causal and agency theory built on determined facts (closed systems).The rejection is based on the possibly original claim that, whereas causation in the objects of the natural sciences reside in their properties, human action is a matter of intentionality. It engages with critical realist theory and re-examines the role of free will in theories of human action in general and economic theory in particular.

Author : Federica Russo
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 236 pages
File Size : 48,5 Mb
Release : 2008-09-18
Category : Social Science
ISBN : 9781402088179

Get Book

Causality and Causal Modelling in the Social Sciences by Federica Russo Pdf

This investigation into causal modelling presents the rationale of causality, i.e. the notion that guides causal reasoning in causal modelling. It is argued that causal models are regimented by a rationale of variation, nor of regularity neither invariance, thus breaking down the dominant Human paradigm. The notion of variation is shown to be embedded in the scheme of reasoning behind various causal models. It is also shown to be latent – yet fundamental – in many philosophical accounts. Moreover, it has significant consequences for methodological issues: the warranty of the causal interpretation of causal models, the levels of causation, the characterisation of mechanisms, and the interpretation of probability. This book offers a novel philosophical and methodological approach to causal reasoning in causal modelling and provides the reader with the tools to be up to date about various issues causality rises in social science.

Author : Ricardo F. Crespo
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 321 pages
File Size : 45,6 Mb
Release : 2020-03-04
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780429842085

Get Book

The Nature and Method of Economic Sciences by Ricardo F. Crespo Pdf

The Nature and Method of Economic Sciences: Evidence, Causality, and Ends argues that economic phenomena can be examined from five analytical levels: a statistical descriptive approach, a causal explanatory approach, a teleological explicative approach, a normative approach and, finally, the level of application. The above viewpoints are undertaken by different but related economic sciences, including statistics and economic history, positive economics, normative economics, and the ‘art of political economy’. Typically, positive economics has analysed economic phenomena using the second approach, causally explaining and often trying to predict the future evolution of the economy. It has not been concerned with the ends selected by the individual or society, taking them as given. However, various new economic currents have emerged during the last 40 years, and some of these do assign a fundamental role to ends within economics. This book argues that the field of positive economics should adapt to deal with the issues that arise from this. The text attempts to discern the nature of economic phenomena, introducing the different approaches and corresponding economic sciences. It goes on to analyse the epistemological characteristics of these in the subsequent chapters, as well as their disciplinary interrelations. This book is a valuable resource for students and scholars of the social sciences, philosophy, and the philosophy of economics. It will also be of interest to those researching political economy and the development of economic thought.

Author : John Hicks
Publisher : New York : Basic Books
Page : 152 pages
File Size : 52,6 Mb
Release : 1979-12-13
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : UOM:39015004779107

Get Book

Causality In Economics by John Hicks Pdf

Author : Daniel Little
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 1995-08-31
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0792394941

Get Book

On the Reliability of Economic Models by Daniel Little Pdf

This volume represents a contribution to the philosophy of economics with a distinctive point of view -- the contributors have selected particular areas of economics and have probed these areas for the philosophical and methodological issues that they raise. The primary essays are written by philosophers concentrating on philosophical issues that arise at the level of the everyday theoretical practice of working economists. Commentary essays are provided by working economists responding to the philosophical arguments from the standpoint of their own disciplines. The volume thus represents something of an `experiment' in the philosophy of science, striving as it does to explore methodological issues across two research communities. The purpose of the volume is very specific: to stimulate a discussion of the epistemology and methodology of economics that works at the level of detail of existing `best practice' in economics today. The contributors have designed their contributions to stimulate productive conversation between philosophers and economists on topics in the methodology of economics.

Author : Harold Kincaid,Don Ross
Publisher : Oxford Handbooks
Page : 689 pages
File Size : 48,9 Mb
Release : 2009-03-26
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780195189254

Get Book

The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Economics by Harold Kincaid,Don Ross Pdf

This volume is the first comprehensive, cohesive, and accessible reference source to the philosophy of economics, presenting important new scholarship by top scholars.

Author : Helen Beebee,Christopher Hitchcock,Peter Menzies
Publisher : OUP Oxford
Page : 816 pages
File Size : 54,6 Mb
Release : 2012-01-12
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780191629464

Get Book

The Oxford Handbook of Causation by Helen Beebee,Christopher Hitchcock,Peter Menzies Pdf

Causation is a central topic in many areas of philosophy. In metaphysics, philosophers want to know what causation is, and how it is related to laws of nature, probability, action, and freedom of the will. In epistemology, philosophers investigate how causal claims can be inferred from statistical data, and how causation is related to perception, knowledge and explanation. In the philosophy of mind, philosophers want to know whether and how the mind can be said to have causal efficacy, and in ethics, whether there is a moral distinction between acts and omissions and whether the moral value of an act can be judged according to its consequences. And causation is a contested concept in other fields of enquiry, such as biology, physics, and the law. This book provides an in-depth and comprehensive overview of these and other topics, as well as the history of the causation debate from the ancient Greeks to the logical empiricists. The chapters provide surveys of contemporary debates, while often also advancing novel and controversial claims; and each includes a comprehensive bibliography and suggestions for further reading. The book is thus the most comprehensive source of information about causation currently available, and will be invaluable for upper-level undergraduates through to professional philosophers.

Author : Daniel M. Hausman
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 272 pages
File Size : 52,7 Mb
Release : 1992-11-27
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 0521417406

Get Book

Essays on Philosophy and Economic Methodology by Daniel M. Hausman Pdf

This collection brings together the essays of one of the foremost American philosophers of economics. Cumulatively they offer fresh perspectives on foundational questions such as: what sort of science is economics? and how successful can economists be in acquiring knowledge of their subject matter?

Author : Judea Pearl
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 487 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2009-09-14
Category : Computers
ISBN : 9780521895606

Get Book

Causality by Judea Pearl Pdf

Causality offers the first comprehensive coverage of causal analysis in many sciences, including recent advances using graphical methods. Pearl presents a unified account of the probabilistic, manipulative, counterfactual and structural approaches to causation, and devises simple mathematical tools for analyzing the relationships between causal connections, statistical associations, actions and observations. The book will open the way for including causal analysis in the standard curriculum of statistics, artificial intelligence ...

Author : Peter Róna,László Zsolnai
Publisher : Springer
Page : 171 pages
File Size : 49,5 Mb
Release : 2020-09-11
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 3030261166

Get Book

Agency and Causal Explanation in Economics by Peter Róna,László Zsolnai Pdf

This open access book provides an exploration of the consequences of the ontological differences between natural and social objects (sometimes described as objects of nature and objects of thought) in the workings of causal and agency relationships. One of its important and possibly original conclusions is that causal and agency relationships do not encompass all of the dependent relationships encountered in social life. The idea that social reality is contingent has been known (and largely undisputed) at least since Wittgenstein’s “On Certainty”, but social science, and most notably economics has continued to operate on the basis of causal and agency theories borrowed or adapted from the natural sciences. This volume contains essays that retain and justify the partial or qualified use of this approach and essays that totally reject any use of causal and agency theory built on determined facts (closed systems).The rejection is based on the possibly original claim that, whereas causation in the objects of the natural sciences reside in their properties, human action is a matter of intentionality. It engages with critical realist theory and re-examines the role of free will in theories of human action in general and economic theory in particular.

Author : Francesco Guala
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 302 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2005-08-01
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9781107320864

Get Book

The Methodology of Experimental Economics by Francesco Guala Pdf

The experimental approach in economics is a driving force behind some of the most exciting developments in the field. The 'experimental revolution' was based on a series of bold philosophical premises which have remained until now mostly unexplored. This book provides the first comprehensive analysis and critical discussion of the methodology of experimental economics, written by a philosopher of science with expertise in the field. It outlines the fundamental principles of experimental inference in order to investigate their power, scope and limitations. The author demonstrates that experimental economists have a lot to gain by discussing openly the philosophical principles that guide their work, and that philosophers of science have a lot to learn from their ingenious techniques devised by experimenters in order to tackle difficult scientific problems.