Econometric Theory and Practice

Econometrics has been evolving as a discipline over the last decade in a way that has successfully brought theory and practice much closer together. Many of the developments are associated with laptop computing, the increasing availability of electronic databases, and the convenience of modern econometric software and matrix programming languages. The changes that have occurred affect us at every level as teachers, researchers, practitioners, readers, reviewers, and authors. No journal can stand still in the face of such changes. This editorial speaks to these changes and the way they impact our subject, our authors, and our readership. In the classroom, practical aspects of implementing econometric procedures now figure prominently in expositions of econometric ideas. Simulations are conducted to show how econometric methods work and to reveal performance characteristics against competing procedures in finite samples, examples are used to produce results from empirical applications, and programming code is developed alongside theory to show how algebraic formulas translate into practical algorithms. Such is the practical skill set that the new generation of econometrician takes to the workplace. In research, core theory in microeconometrics and time series econometrics has expanded rapidly, assimilating new models and structures, new approaches to estimation and inference, and new technologies for implementation and presentation. During the last decade these twin sisters of econometrics have grown closer in form and substance as models, methods, and concerns have become interrelated through the use of nonparametric methods and function space asymptotics, the need to address the complications of spatially and temporally dependent data, and the advances in multidimensional limit theory.