With econometrics, do data constrain speculation or does speculation constrain data? Here Patrick, Allin and everyone else on this list would be able to speak to the problems infinitely better than I can. As Wolfgang Stolper argues, non-linear equations of high degree have multiple solutions, so isn't it the econometrician who is making decisions all the time concerning the algorithm the computer is going to follow? For a layperson like myself, this certainly goes against the image of the econometrician who tries to determine the starting point as quickly as possible while letting the computer find the answer(s) without trying to influence further the results of the calculations which the computer makes. And with new data becoming available all the time, the econometrician has to make some estimate of some short term developments in feeding data to the computer. So why doesn't this open up econometrics to all kinds of charlatans, as WS fears? Rakesh
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