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1 - Introduction

why natural experiments?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2012

Thad Dunning
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

If I had any desire to lead a life of indolent ease, I would wish to be an identical twin, separated at birth from my brother and raised in a different social class. We could hire ourselves out to a host of social scientists and practically name our fee. For we would be exceedingly rare representatives of the only really adequate natural experiment for separating genetic from environmental effects in humans – genetically identical individuals raised in disparate environments.

– Stephen Jay Gould (1996: 264)

Natural experiments are suddenly everywhere. Over the last decade, the number of published social-scientific studies that claim to use this methodology has more than tripled (Dunning 2008a). More than 100 articles published in major political-science and economics journals from 2000 to 2009 contained the phrase “natural experiment” in the title or abstract—compared to only 8 in the three decades from 1960 to 1989 and 37 between 1990 and 1999 (Figure 1.1). Searches for “natural experiment” using Internet search engines now routinely turn up several million hits. As the examples surveyed in this book will suggest, an impressive volume of unpublished, forthcoming, and recently published studies—many not yet picked up by standard electronic sources—also underscores the growing prevalence of natural experiments.

This style of research has also spread across various social science disciplines. Anthropologists, geographers, and historians have used natural experiments to study topics ranging from the effects of the African slave trade to the long-run consequences of colonialism. Political scientists have explored the causes and consequences of suffrage expansion, the political effects of military conscription, and the returns to campaign donations. Economists, the most prolific users of natural experiments to date, have scrutinized the workings of labor markets, the consequences of schooling reforms, and the impact of institutions on economic development.

Type
Chapter
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Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences
A Design-Based Approach
, pp. 1 - 38
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2012

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References

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  • Introduction
  • Thad Dunning, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences
  • Online publication: 05 November 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084444.002
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  • Introduction
  • Thad Dunning, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences
  • Online publication: 05 November 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084444.002
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Introduction
  • Thad Dunning, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: Natural Experiments in the Social Sciences
  • Online publication: 05 November 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139084444.002
Available formats
×