Generative AI for Economic Research: Use Cases and Implications for Economists

2023/12/01 by Anton Korinek · 2 voices · 25 citations
Decision Sciences · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Complex Systems and Time Series Analysis #Financial Markets and Investment Strategies #Stock Market Forecasting Methods

paper · doi:10.1257/jel.20231736

openalex publication_date 2023/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to revolutionize research. I analyze how large language models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT can assist economists by describing dozens of use cases in six areas: ideation and feedback, writing, background research, data analysis, coding, and mathematical derivations. I provide general instructions and demonstrate specific examples of how to take advantage of each of these, classifying the LLM capabilities from experimental to highly useful. I argue that economists can reap significant productivity gains by taking advantage of generative AI to automate micro-tasks. Moreover, these gains will grow as the performance of AI systems continues to improve. I also speculate on the longer-term implications of AI-powered cognitive automation for economic research. The online resources associated with this paper explain how to get started and will provide regular updates on the latest capabilities of generative AI in economics. (JEL A11, C45, D83, I23, O33)

Citations

• Text as Data
• On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots
• Mastering Chess and Shogi by Self-Play with a General Reinforcement Learning Algorithm
• Scaling Laws for Neural Language Models
• On the Opportunities and Risks of Foundation Models
• Training Compute-Optimal Large Language Models
• Emergent Abilities of Large Language Models
• Emergent World Representations: Exploring a Sequence Model Trained on a Synthetic Task
• Structured information extraction from complex scientific text with fine-tuned large language models
• Affective Coherence Monitoring for Transformer-Based Language Models
• Sparks of Artificial General Intelligence: Early experiments with GPT-4
• Faith and Fate: Limits of Transformers on Compositionality
• Frontier AI Regulation: Managing Emerging Risks to Public Safety
• Experimental evidence on the productivity effects of generative artificial intelligence

Cited by

• Deep Learning for Economists
• The Acceleration of Artificial Intelligence: Rethinking Organization and Work in an Era of Rapid Technological Change
• From Text to Discovery: How Large Language Models Are Reshaping Research Across Scientific and Humanistic Disciplines
• Does Multi-Agent Debate Improve AI Feedback on Research Papers?
• Randomness in large language models: What researchers need to know (and report)
• Can GenAI Improve Academic Performance? Evidence from the Social and Behavioral Sciences
• Gender disparities in the impact of generative artificial intelligence: Evidence from academia.
• Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in the research process – A survey of researchers’ practices and perceptions
• Applications of GPT in Political Science Research: Extracting Information from Unstructured Text
• ChatGPT adoption and anxiety: a cross-country analysis utilising the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT)
• Inflation Attitudes of Large Language Models
• AI innovation and the labor share in European regions
• Agentic Economic Modeling
• Return of the solo author: The changing division of labor in science in the age of generative AI
• GJAE is Preparing for Future Developments in the Scientific System: New Policies Regarding Data and AI
• Data retrieval from local heritage books—Is artificial intelligence the solution?
• The Mixed Subjects Design: Treating Large Language Models as Potentially Informative Observations
• Conversations at Scale: Robust AI-led Interviews with a Simple Open-Source Platform 
• Hope, Signals, and Silicon: A Game-Theoretic Model of the Pre-Doctoral Academic Labor Market in the Age of AI
• The Economic Impacts and the Regulation of AI: A Review of the Academic Literature and Policy Actions
• Generative AI in innovation and marketing processes: A roadmap of research opportunities
• A scoping review of ChatGPT research in accounting and finance
• Human intelligence versus artificial intelligence in classifying economics research articles: exploratory evidence
• Charting the Future of Scholarly Knowledge with AI: A Community Perspective
• This time it’s different – Generative artificial intelligence and occupational choice

Discussions

• If you're interested, there's an illuminating discussion of the reason for this wild behavior re: references on pp. 1299-1300 in Anton Korinek's "Generative AI for Economic Research" Journal of Econom [bsky, 3 points, 0 comments]
• 🚨 This Friday, Dec 12! Join the next #AMLEDS #webinar with @akorinek.bsky.social @UVAEcon presenting " #AI #Agents for Economic Research” Learn how agents can plan, code, automate research... 🕚 [bsky, 1 points, 0 comments]

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