Econometrics and the Philosophy of Economics: Theory-Data Confrontations in Economics

Bernt P. Stigum

Published by Princeton University Press 2003

Econometrics and the Philosophy of Economics

Theory-Data Confrontations in Economics

Bernt P. Stigum

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400873234

Overview
Contents

About this book

As most econometricians will readily agree, the data used in applied econometrics seldom provide accurate measurements for the pertinent theory's variables. Here, Bernt Stigum offers the first systematic and theoretically sound way of accounting for such inaccuracies. He and a distinguished group of contributors bridge econometrics and the philosophy of economics--two topics that seem worlds apart. They ask: How is a science of economics possible? The answer is elusive. Economic theory seems to be about abstract ideas or, it might be said, about toys in a toy community. How can a researcher with such tools learn anything about the social reality in which he or she lives?

This book shows that an econometrician with the proper understanding of economic theory and the right kind of questions can gain knowledge about characteristic features of the social world. It addresses varied topics in both classical and Bayesian econometrics, offering ample evidence that its answer to the fundamental question is sound.

The first book to comprehensively explore economic theory and econometrics simultaneously, Econometrics and the Philosophy of Economics represents an authoritative account of contemporary economic methodology. About a third of the chapters are authored or coauthored by Heather Anderson, Erik Biørn, Christophe Bontemps, Jeffrey A. Dubin, Harald E. Goldstein, Clive W.J. Granger, David F. Hendry, Herman Ruge-Jervell, Dale W. Jorgenson, Hans-Martin Krolzig, Nils Lid Hjort, Daniel L. McFadden, Grayham E. Mizon, Tore Schweder, Geir Storvik, and Herman K. van Dijk.

Author / Editor information

Bernt P. Stigum is Professor of Economics at the University of Oslo. He is the author of Toward a Formal Science of Economics and coeditor of Foundations of Utility and Risk Theory with Applications.

Reviews

[A] remarkably ambitious and largely unprecedented analysis of the philosophical foundations of econometrics. . . . Stigum has made a bold attempt to understand the enterprise of econometrics in its original formulation. It is not only a difficult book, but also a rich and provocative one. No other such work exists. It sets the standard against which any future contribution to the philosophical foundations of econometrics will be judged.---Kevin D. Hoover, Research in the History of Economic Thought & Methodology

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Figures Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Tables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xv
Chapter 1. Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
PART I. Facts and Fiction in Econometrics
Chapter 2. The Construction of Social Reality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	33
Chapter 3. The Social Construction of Reality Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	52
Chapter 4. Facts and Fiction in Econometrics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	71
PART II. Theorizing in Economics
Chapter 5. Theories and Models Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	95
Chapter 6. The Purport of an Economic Theory Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	117
Chapter 7. Rationality in Economics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	143
Chapter 8. Topological Artifacts and Life in Large Economies Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	168
PART III .Theory-Data Confrontations in Economics
Chapter 9. Rational Animals and Sample Populations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	193
Chapter 10. The Theory Universe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	216
Chapter 11. The Data Universe Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	237
Chapter 12. The Bridge Principles Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	262
PART IV. Data Analyses
Chapter 13. Frequentist Analogues of Priors and Posteriors Tore Schweder and Nils Lid Hjort Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	285
Chapter 14. On the COLS and CGMM Moment Estimation Methods for Frontier Production Models Harald E. Goldstein Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	318
Chapter 15. Congruence and Encompassing Christophe Bontemps and Grayham E. Mizon Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	354
Chapter 16. New Developments in Automatic General-to-Specific Modeling David F. Hendry and Hans-Martin Krolzig Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	379
PART V. Empirical Relevance
Chapter 17. Conjectures, Theories, and Their Empirical Relevance Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	423
Chapter 18. Probability versus Capacity in Choice under Uncertainty Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	458
Chapter 19. Evaluation of Theories and Models Clive W. J. Granger Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	480
PART VI. Diagnostics and Scientific Explanation
Chapter 20. Diagnoses and Defaults in Artificial Intelligence and Economics Herman Ruge Jervell Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	499
Chapter 21. Explanations of an Empirical Puzzle: What Can Be Learned from a Test of the Rational Expectations Hypothesis? Heather M. Anderson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	525
Chapter 22. Scientific Explanation in Economics Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	558
Chapter 23. Scientific Explanation in Econometrics: A Case Study Heather M. Anderson, Bernt P. Stigum and Geir Olve Storvik Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	578
PART VII. Contemporary Econometric Analyses
Chapter 24. Handling the Measurement Error Problem by Means of Panel Data: Moment Methods Applied on Firm Data Erik Biørn Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	613
Chapter 25. On Bayesian Structural Inference in a Simultaneous Equation Model Herman K. van Dijk Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	642
Chapter 26. An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption Jeffrey A. Dubin and Daniel L. McFadden Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	683
Chapter 27. Econometric Methods for Applied General Equilibrium Analysis Dale W. Jorgenson Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	702
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	755
ERRATA Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	769