The recent award of 2017 Nobel Memorial Prize for Economic Science is a proof that the committee in Sweden is increasingly recognizing use of data and measurement in economics over theory.
This is the use of real world evidence and proving working solutions to the world. This has been the trend for the last several decades. Take a look at: Chris Sims, Bob Shiller, Tom Sargent and Gene Fama. They all have done lots of empirical work. The same is the case with Richard Thaler and Elinor Ostrom.
In 2005, Angus Deaton carried out carefully planned studies on consumption. We can conclude that the committee in Sweden is skewed towards or rewarding heavy micro-economic work.
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