Abstract
The theory of econometrics presumes a ‘specification’ that selects a sharp borderline between (a) assumptions that are maintained and (b) questions that the data are allowed to address. For example, one might treat the list of variables in a regression model as known with certainty but the ‘coefficients’ of these variables as uncertain. In practice, a wide and fuzzy border between the maintained assumptions and the uncertain assumptions causes great ambiguity in the inferences economists draw from their non-experimental data.
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Leamer, E.E. (2018). Specification Problems in Econometrics. In: The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1287
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95189-5_1287
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