On Pure and Mixed Statistical Estimation in Economics

A basic problem in the statistical estimation of economic relations is the discrepancy between the statistician’s claim when he formulates his maintained hypothesis and the procedure which he actually follows. He claims that he includes all his relevant a priori information in the maintained hypothesis, and it is on the maintenance of this hypothesis that his probability statements are based. Yet it is not uncommon to find statisticians discarding their maintained hypotheses after the estimation has been undertaken.