-
Not Synced
- [Narrator] What's the difference
between econometrics and data science?
-
Not Synced
♪ [music] ♪
-
Not Synced
- [Josh] I would say that
the principal difference
-
Not Synced
is the approach
to the problem of prediction.
-
Not Synced
Data scientists are often concerned
-
Not Synced
with curve fitting type
approaches to prediction.
-
Not Synced
So any model
that fits the data will do.
-
Not Synced
If it's past experience, we might
be interested in using that
-
Not Synced
to extrapolate to the future.
-
Not Synced
A lot of the data science
agenda is tied
-
Not Synced
to somebody's marketing problems.
-
Not Synced
You're trying to figure out
who will buy something,
-
Not Synced
who will take some action.
-
Not Synced
Econometrics in my view deals
-
Not Synced
with kind of a harder class
of problems.
-
Not Synced
Econometricians are more concerned
with causal relationships.
-
Not Synced
In other words,
if we manipulate something,
-
Not Synced
say, health insurance
or monetary policy,
-
Not Synced
what's the world going to look like
in response to that change.
-
Not Synced
We don't take it for granted that
the past is a good guide to that
-
Not Synced
because we understand that variation
and variable is associated
-
Not Synced
with lots of potential
confounding variables,
-
Not Synced
we would say other things
that are moving
-
Not Synced
that also perhaps affect outcome.
-
Not Synced
The simple observed relationship
there is often misleading
-
Not Synced
because there are factors
that are not well controlled,
-
Not Synced
and we have in mind
that there is a research design
-
Not Synced
that involves more
than curve fitting.
-
Not Synced
In fact, we're fairly indifferent
to curve fitting in economics.
-
Not Synced
I think we want to know,
for example, whether it matters
-
Not Synced
if you go to an expensive
private college --
-
Not Synced
does that change your life course
in the form of higher earnings?
-
Not Synced
That's not really
a curve fitting question,
-
Not Synced
that's a causal question.
-
Not Synced
♪ [music] ♪
-
Not Synced
- [Narrator] Ready
to master econometrics?
-
Not Synced
Click here to embark
on an educational journey
-
Not Synced
with Josh Angrist
aka Master Joshway.
-
Not Synced
Or, if you'd like to watch more
from this interview series,
-
Not Synced
click here.
-
Not Synced
♪ [music] ♪