The Manifesto of DDE: Data-Driven Economics

A New Covenant for the Modern Economics

For centuries, economics and economic perspectives have been built on theory.

Classical Orthodoxy and its Heterodox critiques shared a common foundation and ground (also paradigm): abstraction, assumptions, and models often detached from lived reality (most of the time). In the 21st century, this approach has reached its limits (by data revolution). The sheer velocity, scale, and granularity of data has shattered the monopoly of theory (on economics). Economics must now be rebuilt on its true foundation: data. 

For decades (Since Ricardo), economics related itself with ideologies and it has been instrumentalized by ideologies.

The economy of our era is no longer commodity-centric but data-centric (Since Neolithic Revolution commodity was core source of value, and early Industrial Revolution was not changed it much, until early 21st Century which was shaped by decentralization of information and real-time data creation). And economics is not “a social science which studies choices of societies and individuals, and (tries to) explain production, distribution and consumption”. It is now a science (and it is combination of both science, philosophy and intellectual thinking) which questions, analyzes and formulates sources of wealth, preferences, instabilities and unbalances. It does quantify social phenomenon, and also predicts. There is no place to artificial equilibriums and/or equilibrium points (which tries to fit real world phenomenon to equations), there are – temporary – overlaps, intersection, separations. And there is no place to any invisible ghost (invisible hand).  

Data is not only a reflection of value but a creator of value. Information, patterns, and predictive insights now rival physical production as engines of economic activity. Ignoring this shift is not only an intellectual negligence, but also rejecting reality.

The Orthodoxy of the past insisted that theory must guide economic practice and it was not different in classical Heterodox perspective (still not different). But reality has reversed this relationship. In DDE: Data Driven Economics, the real economy reshapes theory, not the other way around. Hypothetical constructs and elegant but sterile assumptions cannot guide societies facing real, complex, and measurable challenges. Unlike what has been experienced and practiced throughout human history, we can now record economic relationships in real time, digitizing the reasons for their choices and their direction. This is a giant leap forward not only in economics but also in human history, the significance of which has yet to be fully appreciated.

Orthodox economics clings to equilibrium models and (so called) rationalist assumptions, while Heterodox economics seeks to challenge these, but often with the same theoretical tools and not suggesting anything new. Moreover, heterodoxy's obsession with class and ideology has legitimized the political instrumentalization of economics, essentially alienating its very nature from its very functionality and its very existence as a science. Economics is fundamentally "a political phenomenon, always and everywhere," and its roots lie in political economy. However, to transform economics into a mere political tool is to deactivate and trivialize economics. Both are inadequate. As I have argued in my study on the ontological schism in economics, the conflict between orthodoxy and heterodoxy is rooted in philosophy, not in empirical reality. Both schools lack the capacity to serve the 21st century. DDE is not a “third way” — it is a new way.

Economic theories of the past were built on assumptions; DDE is built on quantified and measurable phenomenon which is information strained and filtered from data. Legitimacy of knowledge is related to “data” an knowledge is valuable when it has been backed by data.  Applied economics must now derive its legitimacy from observable patterns, not abstract postulates. Purely hypothetical frameworks cannot build applicable, realistic, or just economic policies.

In the 21st century, the role of the state and society has transformed. Individuals are overwhelmed by data abundance they cannot process alone, while governments and corporations weaponize data asymmetry against them. This creates a structural imbalance between citizen and state, worker and corporation. Government and corporations have tools and infrastructure to weaponize data against individuals, and individuals are constantly and relentlessly bombarded with data and alerts, and their interests, attention, and even choices are manipulated. Economists must address this asymmetry, ensuring that data empowers individuals, institutions and societies rather than enslaves them.

Current conditions have created new norms and in this norm of 21st Century the middle class — the backbone of economic progress and social stability — is under constant threat. Stagnant wages, debt traps, and data-driven exploitation deepen inequality. DDE places the survival and empowerment of the middle class at the center of economic renewal. Without a resilient middle class, there can be no sustainable economy. And economic policies should prioritize “ordinary citizens” which means the middle class. Economics should not be tool of ideologies, while economics cannot be separated from political economy. By the nature economy includes political preferences and by the nature economics is evaluated version of “political economy” and if economy will prioritize a political preferences, it should be empowering the middle class and evaluating lower classes to middle class and protecting rights and welfare of the middle class against upper classes.

Most economists remain trapped in 20th-century frameworks, blind to transformations in production, finance, and digital society. They cannot see how algorithms reconfigure markets, how platforms monopolize data, or how asymmetry reshapes power. A new generation of DDE: Data-Driven Economists must emerge to fill this vacuum.

DDE is not an academic curiosity but a – real life – necessity. It is the only way forward if economics is to remain relevant, applicable, and just. Data-driven economists must build new measurement systems, new models of value, and new policy architectures that reflect the realities of the digital economy.

In the past, economists built theories for governments to shape macroeconomic policy. Today, the mandate has shifted. Economists must now:

-       Developing strategies and systems for corporations navigating volatile global markets,

-       Building roadmaps for individuals, helping them survive and thrive in the data economy,

-       Serve as mediators between society, state, and individuals by understanding data infrastructures,

-       Understanding reasons behind the phenomenon, explain and formulate,

-       Combine and compare assumption, model and data and explain reasons by quantitative methodologies,

The 21st century demands courage. Economists must abandon the safety of outdated theories (also connections to ideologies), and embrace the uncertainty of reality. Data is not noise; it is the new source and value of economics. Which creates new ontological challenges for economics and economists. To deny this is to deny reality itself.

I as a data scientist and economist, declare:

-       Economics must be empirical, applicable, and data-rooted,

-       Theories must follow reality, not dictate it,

-       Data must empower individuals, not subjugate them,

-       The middle class must be defended as the foundation of social progress,

-       Economists must build the architectures of a fair, data-centric economy,

-       There is no “positive economics” and “normative economics” segregation anymore, there is analytics. (Descriptive Analytics, Diagnostic Analytics, Exploratory Analytics, Explanatory Analytics, Predictive Analytics, Prescriptive Analytics). Each and all analytics types and stages are part of economics,

-       DDE does not value ideologies, it values principles. Ideo-centric economics creates distorted economy which is built on presuppositions, and this is not science this is only a distorted pseudoscience activity which is used to legitimize ideological obsessions.

This is not merely an academic project. It is a manifesto for a new age: the age of Data Driven Economics.

Dr. Emre Akanak