Limits of Econometrics

David A. Freedman

International Econometric Review (IER), 2009, vol. 1, issue 1, 5-17

Abstract: In the social and behavioral sciences, far-reaching claims are often made for the superiority of advanced quantitative methods by those who manage to ignore the far-reaching assumptions behind the models. In section 2, we see there was considerable skepticism about disentangling causal processes by statistical modeling. Freedman (2005) examined several well-known modeling exercises, and discovered good reasons for skepticism. Some kinds of problems may yield to sophisticated statistical technique; others will not. The goal of empirical research is or should be to increase our understanding of the phenomena, rather than displaying our mastery of technique.

Date: 2009
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