Natural Experiments of History
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| Anteprima |
In
eight case studies by leading scholars in history, archaeology,
business, economics, geography, and political science, the authors
showcase the “natural experiment” or “comparative method”—well-known in
any science concerned with the past—on the discipline of human history.
That means, according to the editors, “comparing, preferably
quantitatively and aided by statistical analyses, different systems that
are similar in many respects, but that differ with respect to the
factors whose influence one wishes to study.” The case studies in the
book support two overall conclusions about the study of human history:
First, historical comparisons have the potential for yielding insights
that cannot be extracted from a single case study alone. Second, insofar
as is possible, when one proposes a conclusion, one may be able to
strengthen one’s conclusion by gathering quantitative evidence (or at
least ranking one’s outcomes from big to small), and then by testing the
conclusion’s validity statistically.
