Big Data Insights on the US Economy
Diana Farrell, Founding President and CEO of the JPMorgan Chase Institute
Moderated by John Lipsky, Peterson Distinguished Scholar at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs and Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute
May 1, 2017
Diana Farrell, Founding President and CEO of the JPMorgan Chase Institute visited Johns Hopkins SAIS to discuss how big data can be used to translate the daily activities of Americans to better explain trends in income and consumption volatility, the online platform economy, and local consumer commerce.
Farrell pointed to three areas that the JPMorgan Chase Institute has used big data: the economic and financial well-being of American families; the impact of the "gig economy" and internet-based platforms; and how local consumer commerce has been affected by the growth of online businesses. Finally, Farrell stressed that big data has the potential to be an important resource for furthering the public good and enhancing perspectives of the US economy.
Farrell’s presentation was followed by a discussion moderated by John Lipsky, Peterson Distinguished Scholar at the Henry A. Kissinger Center for Global Affairs. The two discussed topics ranging from online commerce to unemployment, and briefly considered how government officials may begin to make use of such data. The event ended with a Q&A session from the audience, in which students and community members asked questions about specific data points, and further addressed the role of big data in politics.