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1、JournalofEconomicPerspectivesVolume20,Number4Fall2006Pages2946TheMacroeconomistasScientistandEngineerN.GregoryMankiwconomistsliketostriketheposeofascientist.Iknow,becauseIoftendoitmyself.WhenIteachundergraduates,IveryconsciouslydescribetheEfieldofeconomicsasascience,sonostud
2、entwillstartthecoursethinkingthatheorsheisembarkingonsomesquishyacademicendeavor.Ourcolleaguesinthephysicsdepartmentacrosscampusmayfinditamusingthatweviewthemasclosecousins,butwearequicktoremindanyonewhowilllistenthateconomistsformulatetheorieswithmathematicalprecision,colle
3、cthugedatasetsonindivid-ualandaggregatebehavior,andexploitthemostsophisticatedstatisticaltech-niquestoreachempiricaljudgmentsthatarefreeofbiasandideology(orsoweliketothink).HavingrecentlyspenttwoyearsinWashingtonasaneconomicadviseratatimewhentheU.S.economywasstrugglingtopul
4、loutofarecession,Iamremindedthatthesubfieldofmacroeconomicswasbornnotasasciencebutmoreasatypeofengineering.Godputmacroeconomistsonearthnottoproposeandtesteleganttheoriesbuttosolvepracticalproblems.TheproblemsHegaveus,moreover,werenotmodestindimension.Theproblemthatgavebirtht
5、oourfield—theGreatDepressionofthe1930s—wasaneconomicdownturnofunprec-edentedscale,includingincomessodepressedandunemploymentsowidespreadthatitisnoexaggerationtosaythattheviabilityofthecapitalistsystemwascalledintoquestion.Thisessayoffersabriefhistoryofmacroeconomics,together
6、withanevalua-tionofwhatwehavelearned.Mypremiseisthatthefieldhasevolvedthroughtheeffortsoftwotypesofmacroeconomists—thosewhounderstandthefieldasatypeofengineeringandthosewhowouldlikeittobemoreofascience.Engineersare,firstandforemost,problemsolvers.Bycontrast,thegoalofscientists
7、istounder-yN.GregoryMankiwistheRobertM.BerenProfessorofEconomics,HarvardUniversity,Cambridge,Massachusetts.30JournalofEconomicPerspectivesstandhowtheworldworks.Theresearchemphasisofmacroeconomistshasvariedovertimebetweenthesetwomotives.Whiletheearlymacroeconomistswereengine
8、erstryingtosolvepracticalproblems,themacroeconomistsofthepastseveraldecadeshavebee
