A Graphical Approximation to Generalization: Definitions and Diagrams

García Fernando Martel () and Wantchekon Leonard
Additional contact information
García Fernando Martel: 2800 Woodley Rd. N.W., Apt 324, Washington D.C. 20008, USA
Wantchekon Leonard: Princeton University and African School of Economics, ASE – USA, Princeton University, 230 Corwin Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544-1012, USA Department of Politics, Princeton, University 130 Corwin Hall, Princeton, NJ 08544-1012, USA

Journal of Globalization and Development, 2015, vol. 6, issue 1, 71-86

Abstract: The fundamental problem of external validity is not to generalize from one experiment, so much as to experimentally test generalizable theories. That is, theories that explain the systematic variation of causal effects across contexts. Here we show how the graphical language of causal diagrams can be used in this endeavour. Specifically we show how generalization is a causal problem, how a causal approach is more robust than a purely predictive one, and how causal diagrams can be adapted to convey partial parametric information about interactions.

Keywords: causal diagrams; econometric methodology; external validity; generalized causal inference; nonparametric methods; policy experiments (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B0 C1 C14 C18 C99 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1515/jgd-2014-0013 (text/html)
For access to full text, subscription to the journal or payment for the individual article is required.

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:bpj:globdv:v:6:y:2015:i:1:p:71-86:n:5

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.degruyter.com/journal/key/jgd/html

DOI: 10.1515/jgd-2014-0013

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Globalization and Development is currently edited by Joseph E. Stiglitz, Kevin Gallagher, Jeronim Capaldo, Arjun Jayadev, José Antonio Ocampo and Dani Rodrik

More articles in Journal of Globalization and Development from De Gruyter
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Peter Golla ().