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Actually I've seen reports in the mainstream press about the
fall in demand for business economists for precisely this reason:
business firms found them expendable. Another form of this came
out in firms utilizing macro forecasting, to the effect that the
newer people coming out of blue-chip departments weren't very
useful because they couldn't do actual modelling, or because most
macro modelling in the business world remains Keynesian. I even
caught the Heritage FOundation using a Keynesian model to
support one of their dubious propositions.
>> Actually, in the shop I work in, they only hire math majors. When I began working in the early 1980s, macro modeling was falling into disrepute. Interestingly, both the 2 leading forecasting firms use a mis-mash (they prefer "eclectic") approach: ag supply is a NC production function vs. ag demand which is basically Keynesian with some new bus cycle stuff. Though you are right on about learning about how to use a macro model - from what I observe, there are few cutting-edge econometricians who would know how to build a macro model (and actually use it!)
Jason