Excellent read from CNN Business, how Economists help Amazon gets its edge. It is a premise of this blog that economics puts the science in data science and that economics is great training for the data science field, bringing so much value for businesses.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/13/tech/amazon-economists/index.html
Proof that Economics puts the Science in Data Science: “What I’ve seen change in the industry, starting about eight years ago, is firms got more serious about using the scientific method and removing chunks of guesswork within companies,” an Amazon economist said, with a characteristic nervous laugh in between sentences. “You’re basically trying to clean up waste.”
Originally, the company brought on a team of psychologists, other scientists and product managers, but before long, it became apparent that they weren’t well suited to achieving what Amazon was ultimately after: Better performance. Economists, by contrast, were able to analyze which interventions led to higher worker productivity.
Why not use traditional data scientists? “They kind of make the point that economists have more specific skill sets that are better suited for a lot of business problems,” a former Amazon staffer said.