Big Data in Firms and Economic Research

Sofia Villas-Boas

Applied Economics and Finance, 2014, vol. 1, issue 1, 65-70

Abstract: This paper discusses how firms use ¡°big data¡± and the role and challenges for economists when getting involved in big data research. The firms¡¯ success stories have taken advantage of building the biggest databases, using the best extraction tools, and using the fastest algorithms for data analysis and management. Although there are already great examples of economists entering big data research, analysts involved at present are mostly statisticians and computer scientists. The challenges economists face lie in computation, publication, and replication when using proprietary big data. The opportunities for economists lie in modeling and designing frameworks for analyzing large observational data panels, as well as developing empirical designs and strategies that are motivated by a model framework; in this way, economists can guide large-scale big data experiments toward identifying causal effects, rather than just correlations.

Keywords: big data; economic empirical research; firms and academia relationships; data sharing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A00 Z0 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/aef/article/view/375/317 (application/pdf)
http://redfame.com/journal/index.php/aef/article/view/375 (text/html)

Related works:
Working Paper: Big Data in Firms and Economic Research (2014)
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rfa:aefjnl:v:1:y:2014:i:1:p:65-70

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Applied Economics and Finance from Redfame publishing Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Redfame publishing ().