CNN's John Sutter talks with Ed Lemur about his 1983 paper, "Let's take the con out of econometrics" The article was worried that most of us don't get to go into the kitchen and see the enormous range of possible models an economist might try. In this world, you just hit return and you can just do lots and lots of data mining, he says. That's regression discontinuity.
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.