Causality in the Social Sciences: a structural modelling framework

Federica Russo, Guillaume Wunsch and Michel Mouchart ()
Additional contact information
Federica Russo: University of Amsterdam
Guillaume Wunsch: University of Louvain (UCLouvain)
Michel Mouchart: University of Louvain (UCLouvain)

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, 2019, vol. 53, issue 5, No 21, 2575-2588

Abstract: Abstract There is no unified theory of causality in the sciences and in philosophy. In this paper, we focus on a particular framework, called structural causal modelling (SCM), as one possible perspective in quantitative social science research. We explain how this methodology provides a fruitful basis for causal analysis in social research, for hypothesising, modelling, and testing explanatory mechanisms. This framework is not based on a system of equations, but on an analysis of multivariate distributions. In particular, the modelling stage is essentially distribution-free. Adopting an SCM approach means endorsing a particular view on modelling in general (the hypothetico-deductive methodology), and a specific stance on exogeneity (namely as a condition of separability of inference), on the one hand, and in interpreting marginal–conditional decompositions (namely as mechanisms), on the other hand.

Keywords: Structural causal modelling; Recursive decomposition; Mechanisms; Causality - Causal modelling (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11135-019-00872-y Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

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:spr:qualqt:v:53:y:2019:i:5:d:10.1007_s11135-019-00872-y

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11135

DOI: 10.1007/s11135-019-00872-y

Access Statistics for this article

Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology is currently edited by Vittorio Capecchi

More articles in Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().