[PDF] The scientific limits of understanding the (potential) relationship between complex social phenomena: the case of democracy and inequality | Semantic Scholar
@article{Krauss2016TheSL,
title={The scientific limits of understanding the (potential) relationship between complex social phenomena: the case of democracy and inequality},
author={Alexander Krauss},
journal={Journal of Economic Methodology},
year={2016},
volume={23},
pages={109 - 97},
url={https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:51782149}
}This paper outlines the methodological and empirical limitations of analysing the potential relationship between complex social phenomena such as democracy and inequality. It shows that the means to assess how they may be related is much more limited than recognised in the existing literature that is laden with contradictory hypotheses and findings. Better understanding our scientific limitations in studying this potential relationship is important for research and policy because many leading…