Yes. You will hear phrases like “X explains Y% of Z”, and that refers to a statistical association. Examples:
“Micro data show that an aging firm distribution fully explains i) the concentration of employment in large firms, ii) and trends in average firm size and exit rates, key determinants of the firm entry rate. An aging firm distribution also explains the decline in labor’s share of GDP.” https://www.nber.org/papers/w25382
Yes. You will hear phrases like “X explains Y% of Z”, and that refers to a statistical association. Examples:
“Micro data show that an aging firm distribution fully explains i) the concentration of employment in large firms, ii) and trends in average firm size and exit rates, key determinants of the firm entry rate. An aging firm distribution also explains the decline in labor’s share of GDP.” https://www.nber.org/papers/w25382
“We found that twelve conditions most responsible for changing life expectancy explained 2.9 years of net improvement (85 percent of the total).” https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2020.00284
Now, maybe in one or both of these cases, there actually is an explanation. But you can’t assume that just because the term “explain” is used.