Please, open the windows

This comment concurs with Skarbek's paper that much more room should be made for qualitative evidence in economics. However, it raises questions about the modalities through which case studies could carry general lessons when it comes to broad institutional issues. It also suggests the need to extend the set of qualitative evidence beyond case studies and to complement them with formal approaches as well as with quantitative analysis. Persuading economists to open windows to alternative methods is at stake