Dramatic increases in the capacity of computers to store and process information has resulted in a reorientation of microeconomic analyses. Computer- intensive methods increasingly have been used to explore larger and more complex databases and to sharpen the inferences based on those analyses. Innovation has been especially significant with respect to the improvement of semiparametric and nonparametric estimation procedures. To address this problem, a group of leading economists, all of whom are experienced and productive scientists in their own rights, have developed a network to collectively address remaining problems in the development of estimation and other computational networks. Those investigators have begun development of an integrated network of computer workstations. Through this network, they will exchange data and programs in order to further stimulate development and testing of new methods. This award provides funds to enable an investigator at the University of Michigan to acquire a workstation and link it into this network. The workstation will be used by the investigator and his faculty colleagues and graduate students to improve computational approaches and to test those approaches through analyses of microeconomic data related to a broad range of issues. This award will enable a group of researchers led by a nationally recognized leader in advancements of computational methods for microeconomic analysis to accelerate the pace and expand the scope of their inquiries. These researchers will make valuable advances of both general and more focused benefit regarding computational methodologies, and through their involvement in a network of other leading economists, they will stimulate research in other settings.
