Big Data an Economic Dud?

James Glanz of the The New York Times asks the question if Big Data is overrated as the big new diver to spur the economy in an article from August 17th: Is Big Data an Economic Big Dud?

Big Data has been called the "new oil", a new asset group, but I agree with the article that we're talking about lateral shift of economic spending, not real growth. As Glanz points out as far as retail is concerned the digital world is replacing the physical one so there's no economic growth per se, but a shift.