American Economic Review
ISSN 0002-8282 (Print) | ISSN 1944-7981 (Online)
Abducting Economics
American Economic Review
vol. 107,
no. 5, May 2017
(pp. 298–302)
Abstract
Abduction is the process of generating and choosing models, hypotheses, and data analyzed in response to surprising findings. All good empirical economists abduct. Explanations usually evolve as studies evolve. The abductive approach challenges economists to step outside the framework of received notions about the "identification problem" that rigidly separates the act of model and hypothesis creation from the act of inference from data. It asks the analyst to engage models and data in an iterative dynamic process, using multiple models and sources of data in a back and forth where both models and data are augmented as learning evolves.Citation
Heckman, James J., and Burton Singer. 2017. "Abducting Economics." American Economic Review, 107 (5): 298–302. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20171118Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- A11 Role of Economics; Role of Economists; Market for Economists
- A14 Sociology of Economics