Furthermore, the Bundesbank is supporting a RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) initiative to highlight the value of data in empirical work. [16] The idea of the initiative is to automate the search and discovery of datasets in the same way information on publications and citations can be collected. [17] In the context of improving the infrastructure for good data, let me take this opportunity to thank Regina Riphahn (University of ErlangenNuremberg) and Thomas Bauer (RWI Essen) for their work for the German Data Forum (Rat für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsdaten).
Academic involvement is important: Causal identification of policy effects is at the heart of academic research. This is a very welcome development as it adds rigor, quality, and comparability to academic output. Yet, translating evidence based on causal identification strategies into sound policy advice requires much more: external validity and robustness of results over time and across different institutional setups is important.