While not directly metal or cnc related, there has been considerable recent discussion about basic socioeconomic policy such as minimum wage. If you are interested in these important topics, and want more information than bumper stickers or sound bites, the following academic paper shows how data analysis is displacing philosophical theorizing. The 26 page paper is in pdf format and you will require a pdf viewer to open. It should download automatically.
While historians of economics have noted the transition toward empirical work in economics since the 1970s, less understood is the shift toward "quasi-experimental" methods in applied microeconomics. Angrist and Pischke (2010) trumpet the wide application of these methods as a "credibility revolution" in econometrics that has finally provided persuasive answers to a diverse set of questions. Particularly influential in the applied areas of labor, education, public, and health economics, the methods shape the knowledge produced by economists and the expertise they possess. ...
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