Listen to your data – it’s telling you a story with it’s own plot, characters, pacing, and whatnot. Theory that doesn’t start with data ain’t worth jack shit.
Second, economics is becoming a lot more empirical, focusing more on examining the data than on constructing yet more theories. Economist Daniel Hamermesh classified papers in top economics journals in 2013, and discovered that the discipline has shifted strongly away from theory since the mid-1980s.
Source: So Many Critics of Economics Miss What It Gets Right – Bloomberg