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Causal Analysis in Theory and Practice » Are economists smarter than epidemiologists? (Comments on Imbens’s recent paper)

causality.cs.ucla.edu · 532 words · saved by 1 readers

In a recent survey on Instrumental Variables (link), Guido Imbens fleshes out the reasons why some economists “have not felt that graphical models have much to offer them.” His main point is: “In observational studies in social science, both these assumptions [exogeneity and exclusion] tend to be controversial. In this relatively simple setting [3-variable IV setting] I do not see the causal graphs as adding much to either the understanding of the problem, or to the analyses.” [page 377] What Imbens leaves unclear is whether graph-avoiding economists limit themselves to “relatively simple settings” because, lacking graphs, they cannot handle more than 3 variables, or do they refrain from using graphs to prevent those “controversial assumptions” from becoming transparent, hence amenable to scientific discussion and resolution. When students and readers ask me how I respond to people of Imbens’s persuasion who see no use in tools they vow to avoid, I direct them to the post “The deconstr

In a recent survey on Instrumental Variables (link), Guido Imbens fleshes out the reasons why some economists “have not felt that graphical models have much to offer them.” His main point is: “In observational studies in social science, both these assumptions [exogeneity and exclusion] tend to be controversial. In this relatively simple setting [3-variable IV setting] I do not see the causal graphs as adding much to either the understanding of the problem, or to the analyses.” [page 377] What Imbens leaves unclear is whether graph-avoiding economists limit themselves to “relatively simple…

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