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Causation is dead simple---if you can directly manipulate the putative causal variable. Otherwise, you're left with the old saw about correlation, and while you
by rflrob 12y ago
Causation is dead simple---if you can directly manipulate the putative causal variable. Otherwise, you're left with the old saw about correlation, and while you might be able to tell a story about why there should be causation, the best you can do in that case is eliminate other potential confounds.
- tel 12y agoIt's simple in models where you assume you understand the causal structure. Then whenever things get murky people tend to try to operate without clarifying the causal structure and end up in a bind. Of course what you say is true, but executing it in practice and having a sufficiently rich language to identify confounders well is what's usually lacking.