Keynes’s Treatise , Statistical Inference, and Statistical Practice in Interwar Economics in the United States

Bibliographic Data

ID21634876
AuthorsJeff E Biddle, Jeff Biddle (Jefferson State Community College, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume43
Issue4
Pages590-603
Publication date2021-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of the History of Economic Thought (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1053-8372 • E-ISSN: 1469-9656
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s1053837221000389
OpenAlexW3215555575
LanguageEN
References cited22

In his Treatise on Probability John Maynard Keynes criticized the tools of statistical inference derived from probability that were coming into use in the early twentieth century, and outlined an alternative approach to statistical inference based on the logic of induction. This essay argues that Keynes’s ideas were embraced and echoed by several leading US economists during the 1920s and 1930s, including those developing and applying the most sophisticated statistical methods of the day. These economists expressed views regarding statistical inference that were quite similar to those found in Keynes’s Treatise, often citing Keynes as an authority in support. Also, the inferential methods recommended and actually employed by these writers were consistent with Keynes’s ideas about the proper methods of statistical inference

Econometrics · Economics · Epistemology · Inference · Mathematical economics · Positive economics · Statistical analysis · Statistical inference · Statistical theory · Statistics · Art History and Market Analysis · Economic Theory and Institutions · Mathematics · Philosophy · Philosophy and History of Science

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