The Duhem-Quine thesis and experimental economics: A reinterpretation

Morten Søberg ()
Additional contact information
Morten Søberg: Statistics Norway, Postal: Statistics Norway, Postboks 8131 Dep, 0033 Oslo

No 21/2002, Memorandum from Oslo University, Department of Economics

Abstract: The Duhem-Quine thesis asserts that any empirical evaluation of a theory is in fact a composite test of several interconnected hypotheses. Recalcitrant evidence signals falsity within the conjunction of hypotheses, but logic alone cannot pinpoint the individual element(s) inside the theoretical cluster responsible for a false prediction. This paper considers the relevance of the Duhem-Quine thesis for experimental economics. A starting point is to detail how laboratory evaluations of economic hypotheses constitute composite tests. Another aim is to scrutinize the strategy of conducting a series of experiments in order to hem in the source(s) of disconfirmative evidence. A Bayesian approach is employed to argue that reproducing experiments is not necessarily useful in terms of identifying correct causes of recalcitrant data.

Keywords: Experimental economics; methodology; Duhem-Quine thesis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B41 C90 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 24 pages
Date: 2003-06-18
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sv.uio.no/econ/english/research/unpubli ... 002/Memo-21-2002.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hhs:osloec:2002_021

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Memorandum from Oslo University, Department of Economics Department of Economics, University of Oslo, P.O Box 1095 Blindern, N-0317 Oslo, Norway. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Mari Strønstad Øverås ().