Statistics & Econometrics

Created
Wed, 18/06/2025 - 19:07
According to Guy Routh, econometrics is nothing but “mock empiricism, with statistics subjected to econometric torture until they admit to effects of which they are innocent.” Similarly, Mark Blaug in his The Methodology of Economics argued that econometric testing is like “playing tennis with the net down.” Although these are rather harsh judgments, I believe […]
Created
Wed, 28/05/2025 - 02:27
It’s true — as Sander Greenland notes in a comment on an earlier post of mine — that the  potential outcomes and the interventionist accounts of causality should not be “seen as identical.” But — although they differ in emphasis and formalism, the connection between them is both strong and conceptually intertwined. Guido Imbens, a […]
Created
Sat, 29/03/2025 - 08:30
Mainstream economists often hold the view that criticisms of econometrics are the conclusions of sadly misinformed and misguided people who dislike and do not understand much of it. This is really a gross misapprehension. To be careful and cautious is not the same as to dislike. Any perusal of the mathematical-statistical and philosophical works of Nancy […]
Created
Mon, 24/03/2025 - 01:34
When econometric and statistical textbooks present simple (and multiple) regression analysis for cross-sectional data, they often do it with regressions like “regress test score (y) on study hours (x)” and get the result y = constant + slope coefficient*x + error term. When speaking of increases or decreases in x in these interpretations, we have […]
Created
Wed, 05/02/2025 - 03:57
Mainstream economists often hold the view that Keynes’ criticism of econometrics resulted from a sadly misinformed and misguided person who disliked and did not understand much of it. This is, however, nothing but a gross misapprehension. To be careful and cautious is not the same as to dislike. Keynes did not misunderstand the crucial issues […]