Microeconomics and machine learning

A couple of recent article in The Economist discuss that in the age of big data, microeconomists may be able to gain some of the prestige that mainly goes to macroeconomists. A long way from dismal: microeconomics is fingered as the way forward in applying large data sets to the challenge of making economic predictions. Quotes:

But technology is lending them [microeconomists] clout. Armed with vast data sets produced by tech firms, microeconomists can produce startlingly good forecasts of human behaviour

The success of micro is its magpie approach, stealing ideas from psychology to artificial intelligence.

Another article: Meet the market shapers discusses examples of Silicon valley firms using microeconomic models to learn from data.