Causal Inferences in CapitalMarkets Research

In December 2014 the Stanford Graduate School of Business hosted the conference “Causality in the Social Sciences” in an attempt to promote a broad interdisciplinary debate about the notion of causality, and the role of causal inference in the social sciences.

The issue of causality is at the center of all scientific disciplines, but has become particularly contentious in accounting research. Despite usual disclaimers, there often is a gap between the causal language researchers use to describe empirical findings, and the extent to which causal claims are backed by evidence. At the risk of oversimplifying, the issue of causality divides...