When an economist says the evidence is "mixed," he or she means that theory says one thing and data says the opposite.
Interpretation
Mixed evidence suggests a conflict between theory and actual data.
This quote by Richard Thaler highlights the common scenario in economics where theoretical predictions do not align with empirical data. It reflects the complexity and unpredictability of economic behavior, emphasizing the importance of examining both theory and data to draw meaningful conclusions.
In practice
In a presentation about economic indicators, you could use this quote to emphasize the importance of understanding data beyond theoretical models.
The ability of businesses to monitor our behavior is already a fact of life, and it isn't going away. Of course we must protect our privacy rights. But if we're smart, we'll also use the data that is being collected to improve our own lives.
If you're trading individual securities, you're almost certainly making a mistake. Because most professional managers can't outperform their benchmarks, and there's little reason to think that individuals can.
In the 1940s, economics started getting highly mathematical. It was basically because economists weren't smart enough to write down models of real behavior that they started writing down models of highly rational behavior - and they kind of forgot about humans.
Academia does not provide many opportunities for immediate gratification. You work for two years on a project, it takes two more years to get it published, and then you start hoping someone might read it.
In the world of traditional economics, it shouldn't matter whether you use an opt-in or opt-out system. So long as the costs of registering as a donor or a nondonor are low, the results should be similar. But many findings of behavioral economics show that tiny disparities in such rules can make a big difference.
My thesis topic was 'The value of a human life.' I asked people a question: 'Suppose you had some risk, a one in a thousand risk of dying - how much would you pay to eliminate it?'
What was most significant about the lunar voyage was not that men set foot on the moon but that they set eye on the earth.
Electrical science has disclosed to us the more intimate relation existing between widely different forces and phenomena and has thus led us to a more complete comprehension of Nature and its many manifestations to our senses.
False facts are highly injurious to the progress of science, for they often endure long; but false views, if supported by some evidence, do little harm, for every one takes a salutary pleasure in proving their falseness.
What really matters for me is ... the more active role of the observer in quantum physics ... According to quantum physics the observer has indeed a new relation to the physical events around him in comparison with the classical observer, who is merely a spectator.
A zero-gravity flight is a first step toward space travel.
Measure what is measurable, and make measurable what is not so.
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