Methodological Pluralism in Economics: The ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of Causal Inferences

• Authors: Mariusz Maziarz

Title variants

PL

Methodological Pluralism in Economics: The ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of Causal Inferences

PL

Methodological Pluralism in Economics: The ‘Why’ and ‘How’ of Causal Inferences

• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

PL

Recently, two distinct notions of pluralism have been put forward in regard to research methods in economics: (1) model pluralism, stating that economists construct many theoretical models offering descriptions of actual or possible mechanisms and use different models for different purposes, and (2) evidential pluralism, according to which causal claims are established on the basis of theoretical conjecture and by observing the operation of a difference-making factor. In this paper, I make a case for methodological pluralism. I argue that economists not only use different research methods but also interpret their role in causal inference differently - depending on which (big-M) Methodological school they subscribe to. The argument proceeds by analyzing examples of recent economic research appealing to different Methodological commitments.

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warszawski. Wydział Filozofii
• Journal: Filozofia Nauki
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 27
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 43-59

Dates

published

2019-12-31

Contributors

author

Mariusz Maziarz