Epistemic AI’s Foray into Economic Inquiry: Redefining the Foundations of Economics

AI and Economic Measurement | NBER

Epigraph:

“We are not just building better tools of measurement — we are reinventing what it means to measure.”

— Zulfiqar Ali Mir

Teaser

In this chapter, we unravel how epistemic AI — that is, AI with the capacity to generate, validate, and question knowledge — is no longer just a computational assistant. It has become a co-author in economic discovery.

This isn’t just a technical shift — it’s an ontological pivot (a fundamental change in being or perception). AI is altering not only what we measure in economics, but how we know what we know.

🧠 Introduction: When AI Becomes the Economist

Artificial Intelligence, once confined to engineering labs and predictive models, is now permeating (spreading throughout) the economic discipline itself. It’s no longer just helping us analyze data — it’s reconceptualizing (rethinking fundamentally) what counts as economic evidence.

In this chapter, we explore an upcoming intellectual milestone: a major academic conference that signals just how deeply AI is transforming economic measurement.

🏛️ The Event: A Convergence of Minds at Stanford

• 📍 Where? Stanford University

• 📅 When? Thursday, May 7, 2026

• 🎙️ Hosted by: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

  
  

• 💼 Organized by:

  • Erik Brynjolfsson (Stanford)

  • Karen Dynan (Harvard)

  
  

• 🤝 In collaboration with:

  • National Science Foundation (NSF)

  • Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

  • Journal of Financial Economics (JFE)

    
    

This isn't just a gathering — it's a synergistic (mutually enhancing) platform for redefining how we quantify, analyze, and govern the economy in the age of intelligent machines.

🧾 What They’re Looking For: Papers That Push Boundaries

The organizers invite empirical (data-based), theoretical, and methodological work — especially at early stages. They’re seeking papers that use novel (new and original) data or pose compelling (irresistibly persuasive) questions about measurement in a world where AI is a co-pilot.

🔍 Themes of Inquiry: Where AI Meets Economics

Here’s a breakdown of the core research themes for this transformative (deeply impactful) event:

1. 🧠 Economic Foundation Models

• Using LLMs and multimodal models (text, image, etc.) to explore economic data

• Intelligent retrieval and analysis across massive statistical databases

• Applications in forecasting, imputation (filling data gaps), and policy modelling

  
  

2. 🤖 LLM Agents as Economic Researchers

• AI as synthetic respondents in surveys (!)

• Virtual research assistants for data collection and experimentation

• Implications for bias, validation, and new research paradigms (models)

  
  

3. 💼 Labour, Skills & Displacement

• Measuring AI’s reach across occupations

• New taxonomies (classification systems) for emerging skills

• Impact on wages, job quality, and regional economic shifts

  
  

4. 📈 Prices, Inflation & Quality Adjustment

• AI-powered hedonics (value-based price adjustments)

• Real-time inflation estimation (nowcasting) from web and multimedia data

• Using high-frequency, unstructured data (text, video, audio) in pricing

  
  

5. 🏭 Productivity & Intangible Capital

• Measuring productivity when "capital" includes algorithms and datasets

• Valuing intangibles like organizational structure and machine learning models

• Sector- and firm-level analyses of AI’s economic amplification

  
  

6. ⚖️ Policy, Transparency & Governance

• Can we trust AI-generated statistics?

• Ensuring explainability, auditability, and data privacy

• Ethical frameworks for automated decision-making in policy

  
  

7. 📊 Welfare and Value in the AI Age

• Measuring welfare impacts of digital technologies

• How AI innovations affect economic distribution and equity

• Reimagining what counts as value in the digital economy

📤 Submission Details: Share Your Vision

• 🔗 Submit here: Submit to NBER AI & Economics Conference

• ⏳ Deadline: Monday, February 2, 2026 — 11:59 PM (EST)

• ✅ Open to all — NBER and non-NBER researchers alike, including early-career scholars

• 📝 All submissions require a disclosure of financial or other relevant affiliations

📘 Dual Submission to the Journal of Financial Economics

Bonus: Papers submitted to this conference can also be considered for dual submission to the Journal of Financial Economics (JFE).

Here’s what you need to know:

• You’ll receive a separate invitation email post-deadline

• Papers must not be under review elsewhere

• Past JFE-rejected papers are not eligible

• Not selected? No problem. You can still submit to JFE later without bias

⚠️ Reminder: Submission to the conference does not guarantee invitation to JFE.

Selection is selective.

🤝 Code of Conduct

The NBER maintains a zero-tolerance policy for discrimination and harassment. All participants must agree to the Conference Code of Conduct, ensuring an inclusive environment — both virtual and in person.

📬 Questions?

• 💡 About content or submissions? Contact the meeting organizers

• 🧭 Logistics? Email: confer@nber.org

🧭 Final Words

This conference isn't just another academic pit stop — it’s a crucible (a place of transformation) for a new kind of economist: One who speaks code, questions epistemology, and dares to let machines co-author the future.