Econometric methods and Reichenbach’s principle

Reichenbach’s ‘principle of the common cause’ is a foundational assumption of some important recent contributions to quantitative social science methodology but no similar principle appears in econometrics. Reiss (Philos Sci 72:964–976, 2005) has argued that the principle is necessary for instrument...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Synthese (Dordrecht) 2022-06, Vol.200 (3), p.185, Article 185
Main Author: Muller, Seán Mfundza
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
All Things Reichenbach
Causality
Econometrics
Economists
Education
Epistemology
Logic
Metaphysics
Methods
Original Research
Philosophers
Philosophy
Philosophy of Language
Philosophy of Science
Science
Social sciences
Variables
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Summary:Reichenbach’s ‘principle of the common cause’ is a foundational assumption of some important recent contributions to quantitative social science methodology but no similar principle appears in econometrics. Reiss (Philos Sci 72:964–976, 2005) has argued that the principle is necessary for instrumental variables methods in econometrics, and Pearl (In Causality: Models, reasoning and inference, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000/2009) builds a framework using it that he proposes as a means of resolving an important methodological dispute among econometricians. Through analysis of instrumental variables methods and the issue of multicollinearity, we aim to show that the relationship of the principle to econometric methods is more nuanced than implied by previous work but nevertheless may make a valuable contribution to the coherence and validity of existing methods.
ISSN:1573-0964
0039-7857
1573-0964
DOI:10.1007/s11229-022-03684-0