TY  - RPRT
        AU  - Kluve, Jochen
        TI  - On the Role of Counterfactuals in Inferring Causal Effects of Treatments
        PY  - 2001/Sep/
        PB  - Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)
        CY  - Bonn
        T2  - IZA Discussion Paper
        IS  - 354
        UR  - https://www.iza.org/publications/dp354
        AB  - Causal inference in the empirical sciences is based on counterfactuals. This paper presents the counterfactual account of causation in terms of Lewis’s possible-world semantics, and reformulates the statistical potential outcome framework and its underlying assumptions using counterfactual conditionals. I discuss varieties of causally meaningful counterfactuals for the case of a finite number of treatments, and illustrate these using a simple set-theoretical framework. The paper proceeds to examine proximity relations between possible worlds, and discusses implications for empirical practice.
        KW  - treatment effect
KW  - possible worlds
KW  - counterfactuals
KW  - Causation
        ER  -