Journal of Economic Literature
Book Reviews
2026-09-01
Kevin D. Hoover of Duke University reviews “Hunting Causes and Using Them: Approaches in Philosophy and Economics” by Nancy Cartwright,. The EconLit Abstract of the reviewed work begins “Provides a critical survey of the philosophical and economic literature on causality, with a special focus on Bayes-nets and invariance methods. Discusses causation--one word, many things; causal claims--warranting them and using them; where the theory is in our “theories” of causality; what is wrong with Bayes nets; whether modularity fails; comments against modularity, the causal Markov condition, and any link between the two; the move from metaphysics to method--comments on manipulability and the causal Markov condition; two theorems on invariance and causality; probabilities and experiments; how to get causes from probabilities; the merger of cause and strategy; the vanity of rigor in economics--theoretical models and Galilean experiments; and counterfactuals in economics--a commentary. Cartwright is Professor of Philosophy at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at the University of California, San Diego, and is Fellow of the British Academy. Bibliography; index.”