With only non-experimental data and temporal orderings, causal conclusions rest on attaching compelling narratives to correlations—'correlation is in the data but causation is in the mind of the observer'—making such inference literature and wisdom (faith-based decision-making swayed by advocates' rhetoric) rather than science (quoting Leamer).

factualpending

Speaker

Russ Roberts

Evidence Quote

for valid causal conclusions we need an experiment we need a control group and a treated group when all we have are non experimental data

Source

Ian Ayres on Super Crunchers and the Power of Data 10/22/2007EconTalk
Created: 6/17/2026, 10:31:42 AM

My Notes

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