Bringing hard science to economics

Guido W. Imbens, now in his first year as a professor of economics at Harvard, was still in high school in the Netherlands when he decided to study economics. For a bright, energetic boy who had always excelled at mathematics, there was nothing dismal about the so-called "dismal science."

At Erasmus University in Rotterdam, Imbens studied econometrics, an academically rigorous combination of mathematical economics and statistics. The tools of econometrics are used to test economic theories using data, and to measure economic variables that are important for public policy.

Compared with classical mathematics, said Imbens, econometrics "appealed to me. It seemed more policy-relevant, more connected to the real world."

This "appealing" concentration was also a grueling one. A typical freshman class at Erasmus might include 1,000 economics majors, but only 30 would concentrate in econometrics. "And after the first year, there would be 15 left," said Imbens.