Two Approaches to Reasoning From Evidence or What Econometrics Can Learn From Biomedical Research

Reiss, Julian

doi:10.1080/1350178x.2015.1071510

Two Approaches to Reasoning From Evidence or What Econometrics Can Learn From Biomedical Research

Reiss, Julian

Authors

Julian Reiss

Abstract

This paper looks at an appeal to the authority of biomedical research that has recently been used by empirical economists to motivate and justify their methods. I argue that those who make this appeal mistake the nature of biomedical research. Randomised trials, which are said to have revolutionised biomedical research, are a central methodology, but according to only one paradigm. There is another paradigm at work in biomedical research, the inferentialist paradigm, in which randomised trials play no special role. I outline the inferentialist alternative in broad strokes, apply it to a recent controversy in econometrics and draw some general conclusions concerning econometric methodology.

Citation

Reiss, J. (2015). Two Approaches to Reasoning From Evidence or What Econometrics Can Learn From Biomedical Research. Journal of Economic Methodology, 22(3), 373-390. https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178x.2015.1071510

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Sep 2, 2014
Online Publication Date	Sep 23, 2014
Publication Date	Jul 1, 2015
Deposit Date	May 16, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Jan 1, 2017
Journal	Journal of Economic Methodology
Print ISSN	1350-178X
Electronic ISSN	1469-9427
Publisher	Taylor and Francis Group
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	22
Issue	3
Pages	373-390
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1080/1350178x.2015.1071510
Keywords	Evidence, Randomised trials, Econometrics, Inference.

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Copyright Statement
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Journal of Economic Methodology on 01/07/2015, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/1350178X.2015.1071510.