I have been troubled for long... Put it this way, Economics is my first love, although I have decided to 'marry' Statistics, it is not going to change the fact that I love Economics the most. Sometimes, looking at a statistician's point of view on some economics issue, looking at the way they analyze economics problems is a really painful experience. I can see the economics ideas floating around but I can never reach one. No matter how close they seem to be, they are separated from statistics with a thin layer of glass. All I can do is to bang my head against the glass wall and break my nose. =_=
Statisticians often criticize economists for their naive approach to data analysis;
Economists argue back that all statisticians do is to fit all kinds of models that predict completely contradicting results...
What about me? I am nobody. I am just an undergraduate student who is doing a double major in economics and statistics. If I really want to be some -ist or some -ian, the most I can call myself is a statistician-in-training or an economist-in-training. I am inspired by the way economists grasp the core of a problem and their imagination in model construction; but at the same time, I am impressed by how statisticians tackle a problem from a purely objective scientific way.
I have always believed that economics and statistics is a good combination, but now I realized that doing a PhD in either one is not a perfect way to achieve what I am searching for. I don't think I will or I can do two PhDs-even I can, I guess I will be torn between the two subjects. It's much more than the theories or techniques that you learn differ from an economics PhD program or a statistics program, in fact I do feel that it's the difference between the philosophies that economists and statisticians have...
Maybe I should not expect a perfect match betwwen economics and statistics. Then it goes back to my point that I should feel lucky for not being an idealist. Perhaps after some time, when I come back and revisit this entry, I will feel stupid. But I guess this is the way how you progress, as you learn more things, you slowly adjust your perspective until you reach an equilibrium.
I guess it's okay to have some doubt about things that you learn? Maybe at some period of time, I really need that? I don't know. I am just someone who tries hard to get rid of the "-in-training" after the word statistician or economist...
***
Speaking of "ian", I remembered a joke when I was in Dunman High...
Students in Dunman High are called Dunmanians;
Students from Raffles are called Rafflesians;
What about students from Hai Sing Catholic? Hai Sian(Seafood)~~~
Labels: eeks ECON, Sexy Stats
posted by panda xuan @ 11:21 PM
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