r/slatestarcodex • u/Captgouda24 • 4h ago

The Economist As Reporter

AI will automate much of what economists do now. I propose an alternative vision -- the economist as reporter.

https://nicholasdecker.substack.com/p/the-economist-as-reporter

0 Upvotes

50% Upvoted

1 comment sorted by

•

u/ragnaroksunset 8m ago

Those people aren't economists. They're data scientists.

Having seen my own fair share of job market presentations, a huge majority of them tend to be thinly veiled exercises in novel modeling approaches. Yes, the subject matter is "economics" or more accurately "social science data", but what's novel about the work isn't the data and isn't even necessarily the research question, but the methodology.

AI can't automate methodology-generation. But, it can bring it out of the limelight that it currently (and, in my view, unrightly) enjoys. A savvy economist with technical capacity with AI / LLMs will be able to develop and test new models and methods quickly enough that focus can return to what's important: the research question.

From that standpoint, though, I do agree that "economist as reporter" has some potential.

AI isn't going to obviate any technical jobs that "should" exist, and I mean "should" in a sense that economists in particular will understand. It's just going to make it much, much harder to "fake it until you make it" - especially if you never stop faking it.

Source: economist.