New Technology Needed To Track Impact On Economy

Image source: Planet Lean

When we talk about the economy, the things that may come to our mind are economic indicators such as GDP, inflation rate, unemployment rate, consumer price index, and more. This is not surprising because these are the indicators that measure and represent the economy.

On the other hand, it seems that the current tools we are using to track the economy are no longer conclusive because of so many changes that have already taken place over the last decade. For instance, the unemployment rate does not cover freelancers and temp jobs.

Moreover, the changes in skills that shape the economy are still not measured. Because of this, there is now a move to create such tools in order to adapt to such changes.
 

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) Index

Image source: CNBC

There is a panel of economists and computer scientists that has been formed to study and develop a new technology that will measure the impact of artificial intelligence on the skills of workers, and on employment as a whole.

Members of this panel call it A.I. Index. They are looking into the possibility of developing such tools to monitor the progress and the behavior of A.I. technology in relation to skills development.

Although the A.I. Index does not exist yet, this will work like some performance management tools, which can be used to track not only the output of workers and the level of their skills, but also how such skills are affected by the growing popularity of A.I. technology.

With this index or tool, there is a greater chance to predict which sectors of employment might be replaced by AI, and which ones have less need of A.I.  In this way, the government can align a policy that will optimize the impact on employment and on the economy as a whole.
 

Macroeconomics Analytics

You might have heard about web analytics and business analytics. These are now the tools being used in business and the digital world. These are software tools that can manage data and statistics in real time without having to go through manual surveys and document verification.

If you are an entrepreneur, business analytics will help you track what’s going on in the market. It provides you with solid information about the behavior of your competitors. On the other hand, it also serves as a data-management tool to provide you with fresh data any time you need it. Using this tool, you can have the whole picture of the state of your business.

What about the state of the economy? Is it possible to use analytics tools to replace the conventional economic indicators? The answer is yes.

Analytics can become a breakthrough in economics, especially when it comes to accuracy and relevancy of data. If this technology becomes the primary alternative to major economic indicators, we won’t have to wait for a quarter to know the latest GDP. With analytics, it could only be a matter of minutes or even seconds.

Nevertheless, analytics will not necessarily replace the indicators themselves. Instead, it will improve the processing of data. In fact, economic indicators can be synchronized together into a single analytics tool.

 

Final Thoughts

In this age of information technology, almost everything can now be tracked not only the activities of every individual, but also all economic activities. The problem with conventional indicators is that the information being provided is too late to measure its impact. With the use of new technology that can track the impact on economy, forecasting will become more accurate and relevant.