As social scientists — and economists — we have to confront the all-important question of how to handle uncertainty and randomness. Should we define randomness with probability? If we do, we have to accept that to speak of randomness we also have to presuppose the existence of nomological probability machines, since probabilities cannot be spoken […]
Statistics & Econometrics
Beyond the significant financial expenses required to conduct RCTs … critics have raised concerns about considerable opportunity costs associated with their privileged status in programme and policy assessment. These costs result from how an over-emphasis on experimental evaluations in evidence generation systematically undermines alternative research methods potentially better equipped to answer questions about causal mechanisms (or […]
. Below you will find a little Python script yours truly made to simulate a betting scenario as a Markov process and visualise how the total amount of money changes over time. This model highlights that, due to a higher probability of losing, the total money will generally trend downwards over a large number of […]
. Added: And here’s a little Python code yours truly has put together so you can play around and plot Beta distributions: import numpy as np import matplotlib.pyplot as plt from scipy.stats import beta # Given data total_flips = 100 observed_heads = 60 observed_tails = 40 # Adjusted to match 100 flips # Calculating the […]
. Here’s a somewhat simplified Python script of the case, and as you can see, the expected median wealth is quickly trending downwards:
No doubt exists that an entirely different subject has taken over control when it comes to education in scientific methodology in almost the entire field, namely statistics … The value of the statistical regulatory system should of course not be questioned, but it should not be forgotten that other forms of reflection are also cultivated […]
Do you believe that 10 to 20% of the decline in crime in the 1990s was caused by an increase in abortions in the 1970s? Or that the murder rate would have increased by 250% since 1974 if the United States had not built so many new prisons? Did you believe predictions that the welfare […]