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  • 概念:运用经济思考方式

    Applying the Economic Way of Thinking 
    ::应用经济思考方法

    Certain global environmental issues, such as global warming and biodiversity, spill over national borders and will need to be addressed with some form of international agreement.
    ::某些全球环境问题,如全球变暖和生物多样性,跨越国界,需要通过某种形式的国际协定加以解决。

    Depending on their different income levels and political preferences, countries are likely to make different choices about allocative efficiency—that is, the choice between economic output and environmental protection along the production possibility frontier. However, all countries should prefer to make a choice that shows productive efficiency—that is, the choice is somewhere on the production possibility frontier rather than inside it.
    ::根据各国不同的收入水平和政治偏好,各国可能就分配效率作出不同的选择,即沿着生产可能性边界在经济产出和环境保护之间作出选择,然而,所有国家都应更愿意作出显示生产效率的选择,也就是说,选择是在生产可能性前沿而不是在其中。

    Video: The Promise of a Free Enterprise Economy
    First Objection: People, Firms, and Society Do Not Act Like This!

    The economic approach to decision-making seems to require more information than most individuals possess and more careful decision-making than most individuals actually display. After all, do you or any of your friends draw a budget constraint and mutter to yourself about maximizing utility before you head to the shopping mall? Do members of the U.S. Congress contemplate production possibilities frontiers before they vote on the annual budget? The messy ways in which people and societies operate somehow doesn’t look much like neat budget constraints or smoothly curving production possibilities frontiers.
    ::经济决策方法似乎需要比大多数个人拥有的信息更多,比大多数个人实际显示的要更加谨慎的决策。 毕竟,你或你的朋友是否在前往购物中心之前就为自己争取最大限度的效用而提出预算限制和自言自语? 美国国会成员是否在对年度预算投票之前考虑生产可能性的界限? 人和社会的运作方式有些混乱,但看起来并不像是整齐的预算限制或平稳地缩减生产可能性的边界。

    However, the economics approach can be a useful way to analyze and understand the tradeoffs of economic decisions even so. To appreciate this point, imagine for a moment that you are playing basketball, dribbling to the right, and throwing a bounce-pass to the left to a teammate who is running toward the basket. A physicist or engineer could work out the correct speed and trajectory for the pass, given the different movements involved and the weight and bounciness of the ball. But when you are playing basketball, you do not perform any of these calculations. You just pass the ball, and if you are a good player, you will do so with high accuracy.
    ::然而,经济学方法可以成为分析和理解经济决策权衡的有益方法。 为了理解这一点,想象一下你正在打篮球,向右滑动,向左投弹道给正在向篮子行进的队友。 物理学家或工程师可以找到正确的速度和通过轨迹,因为所涉及的运动和球的重量和宽度各不相同。但是,当你打篮球时,你并不做任何这样的计算。你只需通过球,如果你是一个好球手,你就会非常精确地这样做。

    Someone might argue: “The scientist’s formula of the bounce-pass requires a far greater knowledge of physics and far more specific information about speeds of movement and weights than the basketball player actually has, so it must be an unrealistic description of how basketball passes are actually made.” This reaction would be wrongheaded. The fact that a good player can throw the ball accurately because of practice and skill, without making a physics calculation, does not mean that the physics calculation is wrong.
    ::有人可能会说 : “ 科学家的反弹通道公式要求比篮球运动员更深入地了解物理学,更具体地了解运动速度和重量,因此它必须不切实际地描述篮球通行证是如何实际制作的。 ”这种反应会是错的。 一个优秀的球手可以准确投球,因为实践和技巧,不做物理计算,并不意味着物理计算是错误的。

    Similarly, from an economic point of view, someone who goes shopping for groceries every week has a great deal of practice with how to purchase the combination of goods that will provide that person with utility, even if the shopper does not phrase decisions in terms of a budget constraint. Government institutions may work imperfectly and slowly, but in general, a democratic form of government feels pressure from voters and social institutions to make the choices that are most widely preferred by people in that society. So, when thinking about the economic actions of groups of people, firms, and society, it is reasonable, as a first approximation, to analyze them with the tools of economic analysis.
    ::类似地,从经济角度看,每周买菜的人在如何购买综合商品,为个人提供效用方面有着大量实践,即使弹头不从预算限制的角度来表述决定。 政府机构可能运作不完美,而且缓慢,但总的来说,民主形式的政府感受到选民和社会机构的压力,要求他们做出社会上人们最普遍喜欢的选择。 因此,在思考人民、企业和社会群体的经济行动时,首先以经济分析工具来分析这些选择是合理的。

    Second Objection: People, Firms, and Society Should Not Act This Way

    The economics approach portrays people as self-interested. For some critics of this approach, even if self-interest is an accurate description of how people behave, these behaviors are not moral. Instead, the critics argue that people should be taught to care more deeply about others. Economists offer several answers to these concerns.
    ::经济学方法将人描绘为自我利益。 对于一些批评这一方法的人来说,即使自我利益是对人们行为方式的准确描述,这些行为也并非道德行为。 相反,批评者认为应该教育人们更深地关心他人。 经济学家对这些担忧给出了几个答案。

    First, economics is not a form of moral instruction. Rather, it seeks to describe economic behavior as it actually exists. Philosophers draw a distinction between positive statements, which describe the world as it is, and normative statements, which describe how the world should be. For example, an economist could analyze a proposed subway system in a certain city. If the expected benefits exceed the costs, he concludes that the project is worth doing—an example of positive analysis. Another economist argues for extended unemployment compensation during the Great Depression because a rich country like the United States should take care of its less fortunate citizens—an example of normative analysis.
    ::首先,经济学不是道德教育的一种形式,相反,它试图描述实际存在的经济行为。哲学家区分了正面言论和规范性言论,前者描述世界现状,后者描述世界应当如何。例如,经济学家可以分析某个城市的拟议地铁系统。如果预期收益超过成本,他得出结论,该项目值得做——正面分析的一个例子。另一位经济学家主张在大萧条期间延长失业补偿,因为像美国这样的富裕国家应该照顾其不幸的公民,这是规范分析的一个例子。

    Even if the line between positive and normative statements is not always crystal clear, economic analysis does try to remain rooted in the study of the actual people who inhabit the actual economy. Fortunately however, the assumption that individuals are purely self-interested is a simplification about human nature. In fact, we need to look no further than to Adam Smith, the very father of modern economics to find evidence of this. The opening sentence of his book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments , puts it very clearly: “How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.” Clearly, individuals are both self-interested and altruistic.
    ::即使积极和规范性声明之间的界限并不总是十分清楚,经济分析确实试图继续根植于对实际经济实际居住者的研究之中。但幸运的是,个人纯粹出于自身利益的假设是对人性的简化。事实上,我们只需看现代经济学之父亚当·史密斯找到证据即可找到证据。 他的书《道德感理论》的开头句非常明确地指出 : “ 任何人多么自私,显然都有其本性上的一些原则,他关心他人的命运,并赋予他必要的幸福,尽管他从中除了看得到快乐之外,没有任何收获。” 显然,个人既有自我利益,也有利他主义。

    Second, self-interested behavior and profit-seeking can be labeled with other names, such as personal choice and freedom. The ability to make personal choices about buying, working, and saving is an important personal freedom. Some people may choose high-pressure, high-paying jobs so that they can earn and spend a lot of money on themselves. Others may earn a lot of money and give it to charity or spend it on their friends and family. Others may devote themselves to a career that can require a great deal of time, energy, and expertise but does not offer high financial rewards, like being an elementary school teacher or a social worker. Still others may choose a job that does not take lots of their time or provide a high level of income, but still leaves time for family, friends, and contemplation. Some people may prefer to work for a large company; others might want to start their own business. People’s freedom to make their own economic choices has a moral value worth respecting.
    ::其次,自我利益的行为和追求利润可以被贴上其他名字的标签,比如个人选择和自由。 在购买、工作和储蓄方面做出个人选择的能力是重要的个人自由。 一些人可以选择高压、高薪的工作,这样他们就可以挣钱花很多钱。 其他人可以赚很多钱,并把它用于慈善事业,或者将其花在朋友和家人身上。 其他人可以把自己用于需要大量时间、精力和专业知识但不会带来高额经济回报的职业,比如小学教师或社会工作者。 其他人也可以选择不花很多时间或提供高水平收入的工作,但仍留给家庭、朋友和考虑时间。 有些人可能更愿意为大公司工作,另一些人可能想要自己创业。 人民做出自己的经济选择的自由有值得尊重的道德价值。

    Third, self-interested behavior can lead to positive social results. For example, when people work hard to make a living, they create economic output. Consumers who are looking for the best deals will encourage businesses to offer goods and services that meet their needs. Adam Smith, writing in The Wealth of Nations , christened this property the invisible hand. In describing how consumers and producers interact in a market economy, Smith wrote:
    ::第三,自我利益的行为可以带来积极的社会结果。 比如,当人们努力谋生时,他们创造经济产出。 寻找最佳交易的消费者将鼓励企业提供满足其需要的商品和服务。 亚当·史密斯在《国家财富》中写道,将无形的手洗刷了这一财产。 在描述消费者和生产者在市场经济中互动的方式时,史密斯写道:

    Every individual…generally, indeed, neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it. By preferring the support of domestic to that of foreign industry, he intends only his own security; and by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain. And he is in this, as in many other cases, led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention…By pursuing his own interest he frequently promotes that of the society more effectually than when he really intends to promote it.
    ::一般来说,每个人...实际上,既不打算促进公共利益,也不知道他正在如何促进公共利益。他更喜欢国内支持而不是外国工业的支持,他只打算自己的安全;他通过以其产品可能具有最大价值的方式指导该行业,他只打算获得自己的利益。他和许多其他情况一样,在这一点上,他被无形的手所领导,目的是为了推动一个并非他意图的一部分的目的。 ......他为了追求自己的利益,他常常比他真正打算促进这一目的时更有效地促进社会的利益。

    The metaphor of the invisible hand suggests the remarkable possibility that broader social good can emerge from selfish individual actions.
    ::隐形手的隐喻表明,从自私的个人行为中可以产生更广泛的社会利益,这种可能性是显而易见的。

    Fourth, even people who focus on their own self-interest in the economic part of their life often set aside their own narrow self-interest in other parts of life. For example, you might focus on your own self-interest when asking your employer for a raise or negotiating to buy a car. But then you might turn around and focus on other people when you volunteer to read stories at the local library, help a friend move to a new apartment, or donate money to a charity. Self-interest is a reasonable starting point for analyzing many economic decisions, without needing to imply that people never do anything that is not in their own immediate self-interest.
    ::第四,即使那些关注自身经济生活自身利益的人也常常将自身狭隘的自身利益放在其他生活领域。 比如,在要求雇主加薪或谈判购买汽车时,你可能只关注自身利益。 但是,当你自愿在当地图书馆阅读故事、帮助朋友搬进新公寓或捐钱给慈善机构时,你可能会转而关注他人。 自我利益是分析许多经济决策的合理起点,而不必暗示人们从不做与自身利益无关的事情。

    Video: Cost-Benefit Analysis Defined
    ::视频:成本-效益分析定义

       Classroom Activity Options
    ::课堂活动选项

    • Distribute 3 x 5 cards and have the participants write complete definitions of economics on the card.  Ask several people to read their definitions.  Share the definitions and insights of Smith, Keynes, Heyne, and Reinke as a point of comparison.  Ask the students to revise their definitions as the course continues.
      ::分发 3 x 5 张卡片, 让参与者在卡片上写下完整的经济学定义 。 请多人阅读他们的定义 。 分享 Smith、 Keynes、 Heyne 和 Reinke 的定义和洞察力作为比较点 。 请学生在课程继续时修改他们的定义 。
    • Distribute the list of “mysteries” that economic reasoning can be solved with economic reasoning. Discuss a few.  Challenge students to keep the remaining mysteries in mind as they accumulate economic reasoning tools.
      ::将经济推理可以通过经济推理解决的“神秘”清单进行分配。 讨论几个问题。 挑战学生们在积累经济推理工具时要记住剩下的秘密。
    • Distribute “Things Are the Way They Are for a Reason,” to demonstrate that the power of economic reasoning is not limited to the discipline of economics.
      ::传播“事物是它们出于某种原因的方式”,以证明经济推理的力量并不限于经济学的纪律。
    • Distribute the “Economic Reasoning Principles” handout.  Discuss each principle and include a current event, headline, or mystery as an example.  Ask students to generate or collect their own examples.
      ::推广“经济理由原则 ” , 讨论每项原则,包括当前事件、头条或神秘事件作为例子。 要求学生产生或收集他们自己的例子。
    • Distribute and ask each student to take the Economic Reasoning Quiz.  Discuss the answers, emphasizing how economic reasoning was used.
      ::讨论答案,强调如何运用经济推理。
    • Distribute and discuss the handout, “Identifying an Economically Literate Person.”  Assign students’ the task of reading the complete description as homework and determining whether they are currently “economically literate.”
      ::将学生们的完整描述作为家庭作业和确定他们目前是否“经济上识字”的任务指派给学生们。
    • Assign individual students or small student groups to use economic reasoning to identify and solve a “real life” mystery.
      ::指派个别学生或小学生团体利用经济推理查明和解决“真实生活”的神秘问题。