Josh Angrist: What's With All the Kung Fu Stuff? (FINAL)

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- [Narrator] What's with
all the kung fu stuff?

[gong chiming]

- [Josh Angrist] Well,
the kung fu stuff

kind of comes
from the same place

that "Hitchhiker's Guide
to the Galaxy" came from.

Steve Pischke and I
wrote a graduate book,

"Mostly Harmless Econometrics,"

and we figured out,
as the project moved along,

that it would be more fun for us

and more interesting
for our readers

if we had a kind of
a framework or sensibility

that would give it some humor

and that was in some way relevant.

There's a sense in which
econometrics is a search,

life is a journey,
the path is obscure.

The data speak, but not clearly.
They require interpretation.

And then, something
that's really fundamental

to both econometric research

and, I would say,
the sort of kung fu world,

is the notion
of potential outcomes,

that there are two roads.

You only get to go down one.

You never know what lies
at the end of the road not taken.

♪ [music] ♪

- [Narrator] Ready to master
econometrics?

Click here to embark
on an educational journey

with Josh Angrist,
a.k.a. "Master Joshway."

Or, if you'd like to watch more
from this interview series,

click here.

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