New approaches in economic analysis.

The level of detail of economic models has until recently been limited by the availability of computational capability. At present, the constraint is the systematic compilation of detailed and comprehensive economic and technical data and the ability to manipulate them. The effective use of enhanced data processing capabilities will have to proceed hand in hand with a concerted effort to develop the economic database and with the shift from analytic approaches based on aggregative data to those that can take advantage of detailed information.