The Importance of Consensus

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Joshua Angris: I think there's a lot of good empirical work today. In my area on schools, I see two sorts of consensus emerging. One is that a certain type of charter schools seems to be extraordinarily effective in urban districts. Another is that teachers matter both for achievement and earnings in the longer run.

Joshua Angrist of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology talks to EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the craft of econometrics--how to use economic thinking and statistical methods to make sense of data and uncover causation. Angrist argues that improvements in research design along with various econometric techniques have improved the credibility of measurement in a complex world. Roberts pushes back and the conversation concludes with a discussion of how to assess the reliability of findings in controversial public policy areas.