Counterfactuals and Causal Inference: Methods and Principles for Social Research

by Stephen L. Morgan , Christopher Winship

• ISBN13: 9780521671934
• ISBN10: 0521671930
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2007-07-30
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

"In this book, the counterfactual model of causality for observational data analysis is presented, and methods for causal effect estimation are demonstrated using examples from sociology, political science, and economics."--BOOK JACKET.

Author Biography

Stephen L. Morgan is Associate Professor of Sociology and the Director of the Center for the Study of Inequality at Cornell University. His previous publications include On the Edge of Commitment: Educational Attainment and Race in the United States (2005). Christopher Winship is Diker-Tishman Professor of Sociology at Harvard University. For the past twelve years he has served as editor of Sociological Methods and Research. He has published widely in a variety of journals and edited volumes.

Table of Contents

Counterfactual Causality and Empirical Research in the Social Sciences

Introduction

The counterfactual model

Estimating Causal Effects by Conditioning

Causal graphs, identification, and models of causal exposure

Matching estimators of causal effects

Regression estimators of causal effects

Estimating Causal Effects When Simple Conditioning is Ineffective

Identification in the absence of a complete model of causal exposure

Natural experiments and instrumental variables

Mechanisms and causal explanation

Repeated observations and the estimation of causal effects

Conclusions

Counterfactual causality and future empirical research in the social sciences

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.