Insights on Combining Rigor and Intuition in Economic Analysis

The speaker learned a valuable lesson on economics and game theory, emphasizing the importance of combining rigor with intuition in analysis. This lesson was reinforced when they encountered a paper by Derek Neal and Bill Johnson, which challenged their existing understanding of discrimination in wages. The paper presented data showing that when accounting for skill differences, the wage gap between black and white employees decreased significantly, highlighting the importance of rigorous analysis in understanding complex issues such as discrimination in the workforce.