Clive Granger is best known for his so-called “Granger causality tests.” Christopher Sims was one of the early users of this new statistical technique. He explains its essence in a 1972 AER article: “The method of identifying causal direction employed here [i.e., Granger causality tests] does rest on a sophisticated version of the post hoc ergo propter hoc principle.” (”Money, Income and Causality, vol. 62, no. 4; September, 1972, p. 543.)
Sims uses the post hoc principle—logic texts teach it as a fallacy, not a principle—to show that money Granger-caused income in the post WWII period.
