Reviving narratives in economics and management: towards an integrated perspective of modelling, statistical inference and narratives

Abstract

Abstract Most articles in economics and management rely on modelling and/or statistical inference with a tendency to disregard narratives. By contrast, this paper argues in favour of reviving their role. It proposes an integrated perspective of modelling, quantification and narratives. The perspective is based on a set of principles (organon), use of the exploratory dimension, and colligation of rival hypotheses. The integrated narrative perspective is developed through an examination of the relationships between modelling and narratives, on one hand, and narratives and quantitative analysis, on the other. It is based upon an analysis of the exposed narratives in a few major economics publications.