How is Big Data Changing Economic Research Paradigms?

Abstract

Technological aspect of Big Data is the domain of computer science. Managers and economists are interested, however, not in the methods of implementation of the systems, but in possibilities what such technology allows. For several years, the research has confirmed that Big Data have positive effect on companies' performance. This paper proposes a novel Big Data architecture designed for nowcasting and forecasting social and economic changes. The main contribution of the paper is the proposal of a new data lifecycle model that encompasses all the processes related to working with Big Data, and an architecture for a Big Data system able to integrate, process and analyze data from different sources with the objective to forecast economic and social changes. In order to frame the data analysis in an organizational perspective and allow its management in a robust and flexible architecture, a Data Lifecycle approach for the management of data in the organization has been taken. Economic and social aspects were presented as a complement to the technological aspect, which is usually cited as the primary one in the context of Big Data.