Professor Rui Batista, president of the Department of Engineering and Management at Técnico (DEG) and researcher at the Centre for Management Studies (CEG-IST), recommends diverse books through which we can learn more about the key approaches to applied econometrics and artistic creativity, and travel to the 18th century through an epic novel by Daniel Kehlmann.
The work of Joshua D. Angrist and Jörn-Steffen Pischke titled “Mastering‘ Metrics: The Path from Cause to Effect” is one of the books recommended by professor Rui Batista. “This book presents, in a simple and intuitive way, the methods used in applied econometrics to determine cause and effect relationships in socio-economic phenomena, applying them to real problems: does universal health coverage make more equitable societies? Do private schools provide better education than public schools? Should the State aid banks during a financial crisis?”.
Unleashing your creativity may take some time – this is one of the ideas defended by David Galenson in his book “Old Masters and Young Geniuses: The Two Life Cycles of Artistic Creativity”.
“Great artists like Michelangelo and Picasso produced their most significant works at different stages in their lives. While some dedicate decades of study and experimentation until they reach perfection, others achieve it at the beginning of their careers. Using objective information about the value of masterpieces by different artists (for example, the number of times they are included in art history books), this book presents the differences between conceptual and experimental artists ”, says professor Rui Batista.
The DEG professor also recommends the book “Measuring the World”, by Daniel Kehlmann.
“In the second half of the 18th century, two of the greatest scientists of all time devoted themselves to the same goal – to understand nature – in radically different ways. Alexander von Humboldt traveled incessantly, exploring the world’s most remote places. Carl Friedrich Gauss, without leaving his home in Göttingen, contributed decisively to geometry, astronomy and physics”, shares professor Rui Batista.
