Why Economists Need To Learn Data Science

I am an economist. I did my undergrad in economics, my theory is better than my quantitative skills, where are hardly there at all I was more interested in the development side of economics.

In the last year of undergraduate degree, which was 2018, the data science hype was going on, every article, every magazine and every online course mentioned "data science."

Yes, it's true, data is an integral part of our lives and many WANT data to conduct research, perform experiments and analyze results. Businesses need data about their consumers, IT needs data about their device usage and social scientists need data about behavior and social response. Now, even though social scientists and economists' study EVERYTHING like a variety of economics and statistics, which is needed for data science. They miss one thing: programming.

Programming is essential for economists. Some economists use it on maybe MS or PhD level like Econometricians use R and statistical software like SAS, SPSS but they end up missing the programming aspect of it.

Statistics deals with data. Statistical analysis cannot be carried out without data, economists need data for their analysis.

I was surprised to see this booming new field, which everyone claims is going to change the world is limited to CS majors just because of their programming skills.

Now I had all of these thoughts and ideas inside my head when I googled one day: "Economics and computer science." To check whether the idea I had was just an idea OR it was actually a thing.

Results showed: MS Economics and Computation. A program which focuses on high level economics and CS subjects at Duke University.

MS Economics and Computer science by Drexel University.

And msc advanced computer science with internet economics at university of Liverpool.

These were few of the programs I saw, but they gave me the idea that what I think is not wrong.

Economics REALLY NEED to learn computer science and programming and even data science to become effective economists.

We deal with data, we learn rigorous math and stats courses, why aren't economists taught programming?

Already there is a shortage worldwide of computer scientists and in order to compensate for that shortage, different countries are doing different tasks such as giving higher salaries, introducing new CS courses, free online courses, giving residence to CS majors who are international students.

I think Economists can become amazing computer scientists and just as they are taught statistical programming, data science, programming and CS should also be an essential part of the economics curriculum.

In Pakistan, many universities in Lahore and Karachi have started programs like: BS Economics and Data science, BS Economics and Mathematics, which shows that this might make economics more interesting which will focus on the new and emerging trends and not on centuries old books and arguments of old economists.

Data is the new oil. It is needed in every field. Whether it is finance, GIS, computer science, engineering, robotics, business and even in medicine. It is time educational institutes start updating old fields with up to data knowledge and train the students to go into the industry with practical skills. The reason for rising unemployment is because the skills which even the best graduates have, are not needed by employers. There is a clash between what the employers are looking for and what the graduates are offering. Fields like data analytics, business analytics, big data technology and data and business are growing rapidly and more people who are specialized in these fields are becoming a necessity for many companies and organizations. Successful people are those who are able to put up with the current skills and are up to date. Economists should also start teaching economists data science so they can use data and statistics to forecast economic trends successfully.

.