> It's not very useful to say "once you have accepted a causal model, you can draw lots of useful inferences." Because the main point of contention is over what

> It's not very useful to say "once you have accepted a causal model, you can draw lots of useful inferences." Because the main point of contention is over what is causing what. Well, accepting a causal model and drawing lots of useful inferences seems better than drawing lots of misleading inferences because no attention is paid to the model (or being unable to make any inference because it's not obvious how the data can be used). Even if people may not agree on what is the right model at least this approach makes the model explicit. And in many cases there is no reason for disagreement, but if there is no careful analysis the wrong model may be used by mistake. For example, chapter 8 has an extense discussion of the potential outcomes approach in the context of salary as a function of education and experience.