Abstract principles, causal cakes and asymmetry of results in policy making. A reply to Menno Rol

ABSTRACT

This brief note aims to reply to a comment made by Menno Rol (2020. Ladders of abstraction, support factors, and semantics in the design of policies. Journal of Economic Methodology. In press) about my paper published in this journal (Ivarola, 2019, Alternative consequences and asymmetry of results: their importance for policy decision making. Journal of Economic Methodology, 26(2), 147–162). Specifically, I will try to clarify some misunderstandings, especially those related to the notion of causal principles, support factors, theoretical cakes and permanent interventions.

Keywords:

• Evidence-based policy
• Nancy Cartwright
• asymmetry of results

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Leonardo Ivarola completed his BA in Economics and PhD in Philosophy, both at the University of Buenos Aires. He is a professor of “epistemology of the economy” at the University of Buenos Aires and also an assistant researcher at the Interdisciplinary Institute of Political Economy of Buenos Aires (University of Buenos Aires/CONICET).