This essay studies the contribution of Ta-Chung Liu to econometrics by focusing on the models and methods of Liu's econometric practices from the 1950s to the 1970s. We document his development of an exploratory econometric approach, a development he effected by experimenting with tools and...

William Whewell's and Richard Jones's criticism of Jeremy Bentham's and David Ricardo's “dismal” views on the relation of theory and evidence in political economy was motivated by the former's views on the structuring role of natural theology for questions of method and evidence in the...

Two themes are generative for revealing and understanding the history of observation in economics. First, we argue for the importance of noting that observation is an activity as well as a result, and second that observation is no more identical with quantification than observing is with...