Joshua Angrist on Econometrics and Causation

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4.7 • 4.4K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2014

⏱️ 66 minutes

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Summary

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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Econ Talk, part of the Library of Economics and Liberty.
0:06.4	I'm your host, Russ Roberts of Stanford University's Hoover Institution.
0:11.0	Our website is econtalk.org where you can subscribe, comment on this podcast, and find links
0:16.2	and other information related to today's conversation.
0:19.0	You'll also find our archives where you can listen to every episode we've ever done
0:23.1	going back to 2006.
0:25.4	Our email address is mailadycontalk.org.
0:27.9	We'd love to hear from you.
0:31.9	Today is December 15, 2014, and my guest is Joshua Angrest, the Ford Professor of Economics
0:38.5	at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
0:41.6	Is the author, Wistief Pishki, of the book Mastering Metrics, and also with Pishki, the author
0:47.0	of the Credibility Revolution in Empirical Economics.
0:50.8	Our better research design is taking the con out of econometrics, which was published
0:56.1	in the Journal of Economic Perspectives in the spring of 2010.
1:00.2	That article and the book are topic for today's conversation.
1:03.5	I want to thank David Beckworth and Adam Osomick for suggesting Professor Angrest, Josh
1:08.4	welcome to Econ Talk.
1:10.0	Thanks, Russ.
1:11.0	It's a pleasure to be talking to you this morning.
1:13.8	So the world's a complex place, and the goal of econometrics is usually to try to assess
1:18.0	the impact of one variable on another.
1:21.3	What are some of the techniques that the field uses to do that?
	...

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