Angus Deaton, a professor at Princeton University, has been awarded the 2015 Nobel Prize in economics, for his econometric work in three
fields: the estimation of demand systems, the use of microeconomic data is estimating aggregate consumption, especially his innovation of ‘pseudo panels’ based on cross section data, and his use of household consumption survey data in estimating poverty.
The emphasis on empirical work is both welcome and long overdue.
The Nobel citation [http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economic-sciences/laureates/2015/advanced-economicsciences2015.pdf] details these contributions in context. It is interesting to note the for the first two, the focus is on demand and consumption, and the context, the UK and other advanced economies. Here, his empirical concerns led Deaton to add substance to theory, and in the process to.