Date: June 10, 2019 
Source: Institute for Economic and Social Research 
Author: Xu Mengyao

Prof. Joshua Angrist of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) was invited to a series of activities on June 6 themed Welcome Masters to Jinan, held by JNU's Institute for Economic and Social Research (IESR), He  lectured on Undergraduate Econometrics Instruction: Through Our Classes, Darkly.”

Angrist is Ford Professor of Economics at MIT, a researcher of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometrics Society. He has served on several editorial committees and is an editor of Journal of Labor Economics, as well as a co-author of Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion and Mastering Metrics with Prof. Steve Pischke).

At the beginning of the lecture, IESR Dean Feng Shuaizhang thanked Angrist and pointed out that his two books were frequently used by students of econometrics – the application of mathematical, statistical and computer science to economics – and conducting empirical research.

In his lecture, Prof. Angrist dealt with two main topics: the development trend of economics research in recent decades and the current situation of undergraduate instruction in econometrics.

(Professor Angrist delivering keynote speech)

He said economics had become more empirical and important. Categorizing the research methods of existing economic papers (theoretical/empirical/econometric) in different fields through machine learning, he and his team found that economic research tended to be more empirical in almost every field, especially labor economics and development economics, in which empirical research accounts for the vast majority.
In terms of the problems of undergraduate instruction methods, Angrist said he thought current teaching still focused too much on mathematical deduction and theoretic proof, ignoring the combination of empirical problems and the emphasis on causal inference. Therefore, most of undergraduates' metrological knowledge is of little benefit in developing their logical ability to analyze practical problems.

With humor, Angrist said his two textbooks, which emphasize causal inference, cited many classical empirical studies to teach the application of measurement methods, which is more in line with current mainstream ideas on empirical research in economics.

(Professor Angrist Interacting with Teachers and Students)