Do we need mechanisms in the social sciences?

Philosophy of the Social Sciences

Volumn 37, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 163-184

  Reiss, Julian ^a  

^a UNIVERSIDAD COMPLUTENSE DE MADRID   (Spain)

Author keywords

Critical realism; Explanation; Mechanisms; Methodology; Social science

Indexed keywords

EID: 34249687612     PISSN: 00483931     EISSN: 15527441     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0048393107299686     Document Type: Article

References (39)

1. Baker, Dean, ed. 1997. Getting prices right: The battle over the consumer price index. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
2. Brante, Thomas. 2001. Consequences of realism for sociological theory-building. Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 31 (2). 167-194.
3. Deaton, Angus. 1998. Getting prices right: What should be done? Journal of Economic Perspectives 12 (1). 37-46.
4. Elster, Jon. 1983. Explaining technical change: A case study in the philosophy of science, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
5. . 1985. Making sense of Marx. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
6. . 1989. Nuts and bolts for the social sciences. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
7. . 1999. A plea for mechanisms. In Social mechanisms: An analytical approach to social theory, edited by Peter Hedstrm and Richard Swedberg. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
8. Engle, Robert, David Hendry, and Jean-Franois Richard. 1983. Exogeneity. Econometrica 51 (1). 277-304.
9. Fama, Eugene. 1970. Efficient capital markets: A review of theory and empirical work. Journal of Finance 25: 383-417.
10. Friedman, Milton, and Anna Schwartz. 1963. Money and business cycles. Review of Economics and Statistics 45 (1, Part 2, Supplement). 32-64.
11. Gordon, Robert. 1993. Measuring the aggregate price level: Implications for economic performance and policy. Working paper w3969. New York, NY: NBER.
12. Guala, Francesco. 2005. The methodology of experimental economics. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
13. Hacking, Ian. 1983. Representing and intervening. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
14. Hayek, Friedrich von. 1982. Law, legislation and liberty, vol. III. London: Routledge.
15. Hedstrm, Peter, and Richard Swedberg (eds). 1999 a. Social mechanisms: An analytical approach to social theory, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
16. . 1999 b. Social mechanisms: An introductory essay. In Social mechanisms: An analytical approach to social theory, edited by Peter Hedstrm and Richard Swedberg. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
17. Hendry, David. 2002. Forecast failure, expectations formation, and the Lucas critique. Economics papers 2002-W8. Oxford, Nuffield College: University of Oxford.
18. . 2004. Causality and exogeneity in non-stationary economic time series. In Causality: Metaphysics and methods. Technical Reports CTR 18/04. London: CPNSS.
19. Hendry, David, and Michael Clements. 2003. Economic forecasting: Some lessons from recent research. Economic Modelling 20: 301-29.
20. Hendry, David, and Michael Massmann. Forthcoming. Co-breaking: Recent advances and a synopsis of the literature. Journal of Business and Economic Statistics.
21. Hendry, David, and Grayham Mizon. 2001. Forecasting in the presence of structural breaks and policy regime shifts. Economics papers 2002-W12. Oxford, Nuffield College: University of Oxford.
22. Kitcher, Philip. 2001. Science, truth and democracy. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
23. Lawson, Tony. 1997. Economics and reality. London: Routledge.
24. . 2003. Reorienting economics. London: Routledge.
25. LeGrand, Julian. 1982. The strategy of equality. London: Allan and Unwin.
26. Little, Daniel. 1991. Varieties of social explanation. Boulder, CO: Westview.
27. . 1998. Microfoundations, method, and causation: On the philosophy of the social sciences. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
28. Lo, Andrew, and Craig MacKinlay. 1988. Stock market prices do not follow random walks: Evidence from a simple specification test. Review of Financial Studies 1: 41-66.
29. . 1999. A Non-random walk down Wall Street. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
30. Lucas, Robert. 1976. Econometric policy evaluation: A critique. Carnegie-Rochester Series on Public Policy 1: 19-46.
31. Malkiel, Burton. 1991. A random walk down Wall Street, 5 th ed. New York: Norton.
32. Mas-Colell, Andrew, Michael Whinston, and Jerry Green. 1995. Microeconomic theory. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
33. Merton, Robert. 1968 [1948]. The self-fulfilling prophecy. In Social theory and social structure, edited by Robert Merton. New York: Free Press, 475-90.
34. Samuelson, Paul. 1965. Proof that properly anticipated prices fluctuate randomly. Industrial Management Review 6: 41-9.
35. Sayer, Andrew. 2000. Realism and social science. London: Sage.
36. Sen, Amartya. 1999. Development as freedom, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
37. Stigum, Bernt. 2003. Econometrics and the philosophy of economics: Theory-data confrontations in economics. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
38. Stinchcombe, Arthur L. 1993 [ 1991 ]. The conditions of fruitfulness of theorizing about mechanisms. In Social theory and social policy: Essays in honor of James S. Coleman, edited by A. Srensen and S. Spilerman. Westport, CT: Praeger, 23-41.
39. Woodward, James. 2003. Making things happen. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.