Causal Inference and the People's Health (Small Books Big Ideas in Population Health)

An essential introduction to concepts of causation and causal inference that explores how our definitions of causes in epidemiology influence how we go about finding them and estimating their effects. A key goal of epidemiologic research is to uncover the causes of diseases and other health-related outcomes.But exactly what we mean by a "cause" and what types of phenomena qualify as causes, differ across historical periods, and is a contentious topic.The causal status of social phenomena has been, and continues to be, particularly precarious.In Causal Inference and the People's Health, Sharon Schwartz and Seth J.Prins offer both a synthesis of the dominant school of thought around causality and propose an approach that keeps causal concepts as an organizing principle without marginalizing social phenomena.The authors examine the implications of the "Causal Revolution,"--introduced in epidemiology as the Potential Outcomes framework--which initiated a paradigm shift across the social sc