this is a strange synthesis of hard data analysis and specious post-modernist nonsense, to the point that he seems to want to suggest that the data upholds the post-modernist nonsense. i can't say i'm so sure. but, it's nice to see that this sequence of speakers is shifting towards data and away from theory because, as he points out, it's about time.
what he doesn't address is the kind of difficulty of building data sets over periods of time in economics, which has historically been the excuse - the data doesn't exist. maybe that is what is really starting to change, these data sets that have been building since the 70s or the 60s or the 40s are finally big enough to actually do something with. but, it's still just a start. and it just draws attention to the need for economists to focus that much more on the qualities of their tools of analysis, before they can start making predictive statements. which is what everybody wants from economics, one day - predictive science.