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Nikolaos Askitas

IZA, Germany

Often in applied social science we provide answers to questions, which policymakers do not ask, and we fail to adequately research some of their more pressing questions. There is obviously a divide between the demand for knowledge and its supply, which needs bridging. In my view in the case of Labor Economics, IZA World of Labor is the answer to this discrepancy and I am happy to have a chance to contribute

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Director of Data and Technology, IZA, Germany

Research interest

Labor economics, forecasting, big data, ICT and digitization, game theory, non linear dynamics

Website

http://www.askitas.com

Positions/functions as a policy advisor

Expert for new sources of data for digital TVET in developing countries, PARIS21 and German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

IRSDACE: Industrial Relations and Social Dialogue in the Age of Collaborative Economy, European Commission—DG Employment.

Online talent platforms, labor market intermediaries and the changing world of work, EU Sectoral Social Dialogue Committee (SSDC), World Employment Confederation-Europe, UNI-Europa.

Expedition Unternehmen, Social Media im Mittelstand 2012−2013, BMWi.

Speaker of the German Data Research Centers at the German Data Forum (RatSWD) 2012−2014.

Qualifications

PhD Mathematics, Indiana University, 1994

Selected publications

  • “Big Data is a big deal but how much data do we need.” AStA Wirtschafts-und Sozialstatistisches Archi 10:2–3 (2016): 113–125.

  • “Trend-spotting in the housing market.” Cityscape 18:2 (2016): 165–178.

  • “Predicting road conditions with internet search.” PloS ONE 11:8 (2016).

  • "The internet as a data source for advancement in social sciences." International Journal of Manpower 36:1 (2015): 2–12 (with K. F. Zimmermann).

  • “Nowcasting business cycles using toll data.” Journal of Forecasting 32:4 (2013): 299–306 (with K. F. Zimmermann).

article(s)

  • Google search activity data and breaking trends

    Google search activity data are an unconventional survey full of unbiased, revealed answers in need of the right question

    Nikolaos Askitas, November 2015
    Using Google search activity data can help detect, in real time and at high frequency, a wide spectrum of breaking socio-economic trends around the world. This wealth of data is the result of an ongoing and ever more pervasive digitization of information. Search activity data stand in contrast to more traditional economic measurement approaches, which are still tailored to an earlier era of scarce computing power. Search activity data can be used for more timely, informed, and effective policy making for the benefit of society, particularly in times of crisis. Indeed, having such data shifts the relation between theory and the data to support it.
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