ABSTRACT The most common way of analysing the meaning of causal generalisations relies on referentialist semantics. In this article, we instead develop an analysis based on inferentialist semantics. According to this approach, the meaning of a causal generalisation is constituted by the web of inferential connections in which the generalisation participates. We distinguish and discuss five classes of inferential connections that constitute the meaning of causal generalisations produced in policy-oriented economic research. The usefulness of our account is illustrated with the analysis of generalisations about unemployment put forward by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in its highly influential 1994 OECD Jobs Study. The article ends with a discussion of some crucial philosophical questions about the use of inferentialism in the analysis of causal generalisations.

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政策导向经济研究中的因果概括：推论分析

摘要分析因果归纳含义的最常见方法是依赖引用语义。在本文中，我们将基于推论语义进行分析。根据这种方法，因果概括的含义由概括参与的推论联系网构成。我们区分和讨论五类推论联系，它们构成了政策导向的经济研究中产生的因果概括的含义。经济合作与发展组织在其极具影响力的《 1994年经合组织就业研究》中提出的关于失业问题的归纳分析说明了我们帐户的有用性。