Stevan Rakonjac

The focus of my research is on philosophy of economics, specifically on the problem of causal inference in economics and the methodological and philosophical problems and dilemmas arising out of it. I am trying to understand the merits and the limitations of different approaches to economic research - theory driven approaches and data driven empirical approaches - in light of the causal inference problem. What role can economic theory and data analysis respectively play in revealing the causal structure of economic phenomena? What is the relationship between theoretical and empirical research in this context? What are the assumptions different answers to these questions make, and what are their implications for the question of the nature and limitations of economic science in general?