Postmodernism, Institutionalism and Statistics: Considerations for an Institutionalist Statistical Method

A paper outlines and advocates the use of an approach to statistical measurement and evaluation informed by the link between postmodernism (as a general way of thinking about the world) and institutionalist economics, which is practically suited to an intervention-oriented empirical economics. Such a statistical method would be different in spirit and intent from contemporary econometrics. In the spirit of Wesley Mitchell, institutional economics must attack the policy realm armed with a method of statistical inquiry that places rigorous relevance over rigor and makes interventionist causal inferences its principal goal.