While pursuing PhD in Economics, I've supported myself working as a data scientist and, like ThePhysicist says, it's fairly disappointing that many are oblivious of datasets, APIs, libraries,..
On the other side, the claim "literary types who lack the talent or training to hack their way through systems of equations" is groundless and mostly fallacious. The "literary types" have grasped many politicized inconsistencies and dedicate their research by deductive reasoning. Most of them are not 9/11 truthers.
A good example of what can be done (http://econprediction.eecs.umich.edu/)
On the other side, the claim "literary types who lack the talent or training to hack their way through systems of equations" is groundless and mostly fallacious. The "literary types" have grasped many politicized inconsistencies and dedicate their research by deductive reasoning. Most of them are not 9/11 truthers.