<p>Theory is still pretty important; you cannot establish any sort of cause with a theoretical basis. Empirical results only establish correlations. Besides, some theorems one might never expect from just empirical results, like Arrow’s Impossibility Theorem or the Nash Equilibrium, and they are quite applicable. But you are talking about macroeconomics, which is a lot more complex and difficult to study theoretically. Anyway, can you please post some links to the studies you are referring to?</p>