經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)應(yīng)該更接地氣

經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)應(yīng)該更接地氣

今天的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)太強(qiáng)調(diào)抽象的數(shù)學(xué)模型，而與現(xiàn)實(shí)世界結(jié)合不夠，F(xiàn)T社論認(rèn)為，經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教育應(yīng)當(dāng)更注重經(jīng)濟(jì)史，要了解非正統(tǒng)的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家，并且與心理學(xué)和考古學(xué)等其他學(xué)科結(jié)合起來。畢竟，這是一門關(guān)于人的行為的科學(xué)。

測(cè)試中可能遇到的詞匯和知識(shí)：

dismal science “陰郁的科學(xué)”，一度是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的綽號(hào)，語出英國(guó)歷史學(xué)家托馬斯·卡萊爾

in the dock 在受審

heterodox 異端的，非正統(tǒng)的

bank run 銀行擠兌，是經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)和經(jīng)濟(jì)信心喪失的危險(xiǎn)信號(hào)

wrinkles and perversities 字面意思是褶皺與邪惡

Luddite 盧德主義的，指反對(duì)新科技的民粹主義思潮

anodyne ['?n?da?n] 止痛劑

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Economics needs to reflect a post-crisis world

* * *

FT Editorial: The dismal science should be grounded in reality to stay relevant

When the global economy crashed in 2008, the list of culprits was long, including dozy regulators, greedy bankers and feckless subprime borrowers. Now the dismal science?itself is in the dock, with much soul-searching over why economists failed to predict the financial crisis. One of the outcomes of this debate is that economics students are demanding the reform of a curriculum they think sustains a selfish strain of capitalism and is dominated by abstract mathematics. It looks like the students will get their way. A new curriculum, designed at the University of Oxford, is being tried out. This is good news.

Defenders of the status quo have pushed back, pointing to a rich hinterland of heterodox economics thinkers. Dig deep and you can find plenty of academic treatises on bank runs, unstable credit cycles and irrational markets. That people are selfish and that businesses pursue profit is not the fault of economics but of human nature. Accurately predicting the future is an unrealistic test of any academic discipline, particularly one that encompasses limitless human interactions.

But the fundamental point made by the critics is right. For a subject so engaged with studying worldly behaviour, there is too much timeless abstraction and too little scrutiny of real-world events. The typical economics course starts with the study of how rational agents interact in frictionless markets, producing an outcome that is best for everyone. Only later does it cover those wrinkles and perversities that characterise real economic behaviour, such as anti-competitive practices or unstable financial markets. As students advance, there is a growing bias towards mathematical elegance. When the uglier real world intrudes, it only prompts the question: this is all very well in practice but how does it work in theory?

This theoretical bias left the discipline resistant to challenge at a crucial time. When in 2005?Raghuram Rajan, now governor of the Reserve Bank of India, warned that financial innovation had become a source of instability, his paper was dismissed?as “slightly Luddite”. His call for greater prudential supervision of banks was ignored.

Fortunately, the steps needed to bring economics teaching into the real world do not require the invention of anything new or exotic. The curriculum should embrace economic history and pay more attention to unorthodox thinkers such as Joseph Schumpeter, Friedrich Hayek and – yes – evenKarl Marx. Faculties need to restore links with other fields such as psychology and anthropology, whose insights can explain phenomena that economics cannot. Economics professors should make the study of imperfect competition – and of how people act in conditions of uncertainty – the starting point of courses, not an afterthought.

Mathematical models ought to keep their place, so long as their results are not taken too literally. But many of those used in central banks have hitherto ignored the financial sector as a source of instability. Remedying this will add even more complexity. The maths will get harder.

In the aftermath of the financial crisis the popularity of economics courses has surged. Having watched the global economy fall off a cliff, new students will not tolerate anodyne lectures on the wisdom of markets. They demand more pluralism and humility in a subject that has hitherto overvalued purism and certainty. Economics should not be taught as if it were about the discovery of timeless laws. Those who champion the discipline must remember that, at its core, it is about human behaviour, with all the messiness and disorder that this implies.

請(qǐng)根據(jù)你所讀到的文章內(nèi)容，完成以下自測(cè)題目：

1. What is correct about economics after the 2008 financial crisis?

a. Students were dissatisfied, demanding curriculum reform.

b. Many universities revamped their economic courses.

c. Economists couldn't provide any explantion.

d. Fewer people were interested in it.

2. According to the writer, orthodox economics has failed to_____.

a. Pay enough attention to real life human behavior.

b. Explain bank runs and irrational markets.

c. Establish a disciplinary system based on frictionless markets.

3. Why telling us the story about Indian central bank governor Rajan?

a. To explain that he is an heterodox economist.

b. To illustrate the bias of mainstream economics.

c. To criticise Rajan's Luddite view of financial innovation.

4. What does the writer think about maths in economics?

a. More maths is needed in order to make it more accurate.

b. Economics should be reestablished with new maths methods.

c. Mathematics should be abolished from this study of humanity.

d. Maths results should not be taken too literally.

[1] 答案a. Students were dissatisfied, demanding curriculum reform.

解釋：金融危機(jī)后，英美國(guó)家的一些經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)學(xué)生表達(dá)了對(duì)目前的正統(tǒng)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教育的不滿，作為回應(yīng)，牛津大學(xué)嘗試了一些改革。最后一段開頭寫道：In the aftermath of the financial crisis the popularity of economics courses has surged.事實(shí)上，經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)也是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的危機(jī)，引發(fā)了一輪對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)本身的反思。

[2] 答案a. Pay enough attention to real life human behavior.

解釋：文中多次出現(xiàn)worldly behaviour, reality, real world, human interactions等詞匯，強(qiáng)調(diào)的就是體系精密的經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)與不那么可預(yù)測(cè)的現(xiàn)實(shí)世界之間的距離。

[3] 答案b. To illustrate the bias of mainstream economics.

解釋：金融危機(jī)前，2005年，拉詹寫論文警告說金融創(chuàng)新可能帶來不穩(wěn)定，但他的觀點(diǎn)不僅未被重視，還被批評(píng)。事實(shí)證明他的對(duì)的，我們可以看到，主流經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)界的偏見還是很嚴(yán)重的。

[4] 答案d. Maths results should not be taken too literally.

解釋：倒數(shù)第三段中寫道，幸運(yùn)的是，將經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)變得更接地氣，并不需要什么新發(fā)明。需要的是經(jīng)濟(jì)史的教育、對(duì)非正統(tǒng)經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家的關(guān)注、與心理學(xué)和考古學(xué)的聯(lián)系，等等，應(yīng)當(dāng)把數(shù)學(xué)作為一種研究方法而不是神明。