Rob Engle and I are concerned with extracting useful implications from economic data, and so the properties of the data are of particular importance.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
There are many types of economic data, but the type considered by Rob Engle and myself is know as time series.
Any econometrician who wants to see practical application of his science will be highly concerned with applications to economic planning at the national level.
Economics is extremely useful as a form of employment for economists.
Economic science concerns itself primarily with theoretical and empirical generalizations about the behavior of individuals, institutions, markets, and national economies. Most academic research falls in this category.
Most executives, many scientists, and almost all business school graduates believe that if you analyze data, this will give you new ideas. Unfortunately, this belief is totally wrong. The mind can only see what it is prepared to see.
Economics is a strange science. Our subject deals with some of the most important as well as mundane issues that impinge on the human condition.
Evolving technologies that allow economists to gather new types of data and to manipulate millions of data points are just one factor among several that are likely to transform the field in coming years.
Data is very important, but you have to be good at reading the data in an emotional way. If you look at a selling report, there's an emotional trend to what's selling.
The answers to today's most important scientific, business, and social problems lie in data.
I am aiming my books at anybody with no economics background.