‘The Data Revolution and Economic Analysis’ – NBER paper by Liran Einav and Jonathan Levin

A paper for the 2013 National Bureau of Economic Research conference on Innovation Policy and the Economy discusses “how new data may impact economic policy and economic research.” ‘The Data Revolution and Economic Analysis’ is by Stanford Professors Liran Einav and Jonathan Levin. EUI members have access to all NBER papers and data via this Library catalogue record: The EUI Library Data Services page is at this link. The Library’s Open Data page is at this link.

Abstract of NBER paper 19035 by Professors Liran Einav and Jonathan Levin: “Many believe that “big data” will transform business, government and other aspects of the economy. In this article we discuss how new data may impact economic policy and economic research. Large-scale administrative datasets and proprietary private sector data can greatly improve the way we measure, track and describe economic activity. They also can enable novel research designs that allow researchers to trace the consequences of different events or policies. We outline some of the challenges in accessing and making use of these data. We also consider whether the big data predictive modeling tools that have emerged in statistics and computer science may prove useful in economics.”