u/virgil_eremita

▲ 46 r/statistics+1 crossposts

difference between econometrics and (applied) statistics

Finishing my MSc in economics, and the more I dive deep in econometrics (in 2026 of course) the more I find it hard to distinguish between statistics and econometrics . Heckman & Pinto's argument aside (and ignoring structural econometrics), after the "credibility revolution" much of the working toolkit looks less like a separate science than just applied statistical inference on economic data.

Reading some papers from QJE one could've easily seen them perfectly fitting a journal from the ASA, and vice-verse (Wagner & Athey 2018 for example).

Theoretical econometrics is even more indistinguishable from pure statistics. I'm not that interested in a historical account (Morgan's 1990 book is amazing), but rather how you guys see the current state of affairs.

At least reduced-form econometrics seems to me like economics-branded applied statistics. Of course a traditional applied micro paper would not probably be fit for a stats journal, but I cannot see it more than literally applied stats. what do you think?

reddit.com
u/virgil_eremita — 1 day ago