We take it that what is intended by “laws” in the title of this session—“Confirming Ceteris Paribus Laws in the Social Sciences”—is reliable rather than fortuitous relations, that is, Millian “tendencies,” with “forcing” properties. These refer to causes which do their work whether or not interfered with, or even counteracted by, other causes. Early econometricians had this in mind when they referred to “autonomous” relations (or behavioral relations). We entirely beg the question of how we know when we are dealing with genuine causes and with the related question how we come by autonomous relations. Instead, we concentrate upon some implications of our supposing that we can identify the experimental conditions necessary to confirm the operation of whatever tendency is in question.
Another expression for these experimental conditions is the steps necessary in order to transform a theoretical model into an estimable one.