This paper examines the relevance and frequency of econometric methods in 3,125 empirical papers published in 27 top economics journals during 2014-2018. There are three major findings. First, 93% of these empirical papers use microdata, while only 7% and 4% of them employ macrodata and time series data, respectively. Second, two-stage least squares and difference-in-differences are the two leading identification strategies, accounting for nearly half and a quarter, respectively, in empirical studies using microdata. Third, there is a clear divide in empirical studies using microdata and macrodata in terms of data collection, identification strategies and econometric methods.
Feng et al. (2026) studied this question.