The 1st PE-DPS: Intro & Juan Melo on Statistical Explanation

During this first session of the Series, we will first present the series and provide guidelines for submissions. Then, Juan will kick off the series by presenting some of his research. Come join!

"Statistical Explanation in Political Economy"
by Juan Melo (U. Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne)
Abstract: In this short presentation, I will address a subsection of my dissertation that deals with the concept of statistical explanation in analytical political economy. I will start by touching briefly on the complex history of probabilistic thinking in economic analysis. Then I proceed to discuss two aspects of statistical explanation in economic analysis. The first relates to the problem of rational inference based on probabilities (the micro perspective), and the second has to do with statistical theories in the context of econometric or phenomenological research (the macro perspective). Finally, I relate this to work in contemporary and classical political economy.