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1、JournalofEconomicPerspectivesVolume20,Number4Fall2006Pages2946TheMacroeconomistasScientistandEngineerN.GregoryMankiwconomistsliketostriketheposeofascientist.Iknow,becauseIoftendoitmyself.WhenIteachundergraduates,IveryconsciouslydescribetheEfieldofeconomicsasascience,sonostudentwillstartthe
2、coursethinkingthatheorsheisembarkingonsomesquishyacademicendeavor.Ourcolleaguesinthephysicsdepartmentacrosscampusmayfinditamusingthatweviewthemasclosecousins,butwearequicktoremindanyonewhowilllistenthateconomistsformulatetheorieswithmathematicalprecision,collecthugedatasetsonindivid-ualand
3、aggregatebehavior,andexploitthemostsophisticatedstatisticaltech-niquestoreachempiricaljudgmentsthatarefreeofbiasandideology(orsoweliketothink).HavingrecentlyspenttwoyearsinWashingtonasaneconomicadviseratatimewhentheU.S.economywasstrugglingtopulloutofarecession,Iamremindedthatthesubfieldofm
4、acroeconomicswasbornnotasasciencebutmoreasatypeofengineering.Godputmacroeconomistsonearthnottoproposeandtesteleganttheoriesbuttosolvepracticalproblems.TheproblemsHegaveus,moreover,werenotmodestindimension.Theproblemthatgavebirthtoourfield—theGreatDepressionofthe1930s—wasaneconomicdownturno
5、funprec-edentedscale,includingincomessodepressedandunemploymentsowidespreadthatitisnoexaggerationtosaythattheviabilityofthecapitalistsystemwascalledintoquestion.Thisessayoffersabriefhistoryofmacroeconomics,togetherwithanevalua-tionofwhatwehavelearned.Mypremiseisthatthefieldhasevolvedthroug
6、htheeffortsoftwotypesofmacroeconomists—thosewhounderstandthefieldasatypeofengineeringandthosewhowouldlikeittobemoreofascience.Engineersare,firstandforemost,problemsolvers.Bycontrast,thegoalofscientistsistounder-yN.GregoryMankiwistheRobertM.BerenProfessorofEconomics,HarvardUniversity,Cambrid
7、ge,Massachusetts.30JournalofEconomicPerspectivesstandhowtheworldworks.Theresearchemphasisofmacroeconomistshasvariedovertimebetweenthesetwomotives.Whiletheearlymacroeconomistswereengineerstryingtosolvepracticalproblems,themacroeconomistsofthepastseveraldecadeshavebee
