The ET interview : Professor Jan Kmenta

Jan Kmenta is the author of the internationally respected text The Elements of Econometrics and co-editor of several books related to econometric model building. His published research over 40 years relates to many facets of econometric theory and practice, including the estimation of production functions, the evaluation of structural econometric models, and estimation in the face of missing data. This work has appeared in the leading journals of the profession. A 1966 paper is of historical interest for being the second econometric model constructed of the Australian economy. In his work, through both constructive contributions and methodological critique, he has always sought to highlight and advance the evidently close connection between economics and econometrics. This is an edited transcript of two tape-recorded interviews conducted with Professor Kmenta in Sydney on March 12, 2004, as he visited the University of New South Wales to present the seminar Econometrics: A Failed Science?