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1、., . .Every field of study has its own language and its own way of thinking. Mathematicians talk about axioms, integrals, and vector spaces. Psychologists talk about ego, id, and cognitive dissonance. Lawyers talk about venue, torts, and promissory estoppel. 每个研究领域都有它自己的语言和思考方式。数学家谈论定理、积分以及向量空间。心理学家
2、谈论自我、本能、以及认知的不一致性。律师谈论犯罪地点、侵权行为以及约定的禁止翻供。Economics is no different. Supply, demand, elasticity, comparative advantage, consumer surplus, deadweight lossthese terms are part of the economists language. In the coming chapters, you will encounter many new terms and some familiar words that economists u
3、se in specialized ways. At first, this new language may seem needlessly arcane. But, as you will see, its value lies in its ability to provide you a new and useful way of thinking about the world in which you live. 经济学家也一样。供给、需求、弹性、比较优势、消费剩余、最低损耗，这些术语是经济学语言的一部分。在接下来的章节里，你会遇到很多新术语以及一些熟悉的词汇，这些术语和词汇被经济
4、学家们用在经济这一领域。起初，这些新的语言可能看起来不必要的神秘，但是，你会看到，他的价值在于他能提供给你一种新的和有用的思考方式，让你思考你生活的世界。The single most important purpose of this book is to help you learn the economists way of thinking. Of course, just as you cannot become a mathematician, psychologist, or lawyer overnight, learning to think like an economis
5、t will take some time. Yet with a combination of theory, case studies, and examples of economics in the news, this book will give you ample opportunity to develop and practice this skill.这本书唯一的最重要的目的就是帮助你学习经济学家的思考方式。当然，就像你不能一夜就成为数学家、心理学家或者律师一样，学会像经济学家一样思考会花费一定的时间。然而，在理论、案例研究、以及经济新闻的案例的结合下，这本书将会给你充分的
6、机会来发展和练习这种能力。Before delving into the substance and details of economics, it is helpful to have an overview of how economists approach the world. This chapter, therefore, discusses the fields methodology. What is distinctive about how economists confront a question? What does it mean to think like an
7、 economist?在探究经济学的实质和细节前，对经济学家们如何看待世界进行预览是非常有益的。因此，这一章讨论了这一领域的方法论。经济学家解决问题有何独特之处？像经济学家一样思考是什么意思？THE ECONOMIST AS SCIENTIST作为科学家的经济学家Economists try to address their subject with a scientists objectivity. They approach the study of the economy in much the same way as a physicist approaches the study o
8、f matter and a biologist approaches the study of life: They devise theories, collect data, and then analyze these data in an attempt to verify or refute their theories.经济学家们试图从科学的角度来阐释他们的学科。他们演绎经济学和物理学家演绎物质、生物学家演绎生命一样：他们设计理论，收集数据，然后分析这些数据，试图能够证明或者反驳他们的理论。To beginners, it can seem odd to claim that e
9、conomics is a science. After all, economists do not work with test tubes or telescopes. The essence of science, however, is the scientific methodthe dispassionate development and testing of theories about how the world works. This method of inquiry is as applicable to studying a nations economy as i
10、t is to studying the earths gravity or a species evolution. As Albert Einstein once put it, “The whole of science is nothing more than the refinement of everyday thinking.”对于初学者来说，宣称经济学是科学似乎看起来很奇怪。毕竟，经济学家们并不和试管或者显微镜一起工作。然而，科学的精华是科学的方法世界如何运作这一理论的逐渐发展和试验。这种观察的方法运用于研究一个国家的经济，就像它运用于研究地球的重力或者一个物种的演变。就像爱因
11、斯坦曾经提出的：科学的全部无非就是日常思考的精炼。Although Einsteins comment is as true for social sciences such as economics as it is for natural sciences such as physics, most people are not accustomed to looking at society through the eyes of a scientist. Lets therefore discuss some of the ways in which economists apply
12、the logic of science to examine how an economy works.尽管爱因斯坦的观点对于社会科学例如经济学是正确的，就像它对于自然科学例如物理学一样是正确的，大部分人并不习惯于通过科学的角度来看待社会。因此，就让我们来讨论一些方法，通过这些方法，经济学家们运用科学逻辑来观察经济如何运作。THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD: OBSERVATION, THEORY, AND MORE OBSERVATION科学的方法：观察、理论以及更多的观察Isaac Newton, the famous seventeenth-century scientist
13、 and mathematician, allegedly became intrigued one day when he saw an apple fall from an apple tree. This observation motivated Newton to develop a theory of gravity that applies not only to an apple falling to the earth but to any two objects in the universe. Subsequent testing of Newtons theory ha
14、s shown that it works well in many circumstances (although, as Einstein would later emphasize, not in all circumstances). Because Newtons theory has been so successful at explaining observation, it is still taught today in undergraduate physics courses around the world.牛顿，17世纪著名的科学家和数学家，当有一天看到一个苹果从树
15、上掉下时，引起了他的深思。这个观察使牛顿形成了重力的理论，这一理论不仅应用于苹果落地，而且应用于宇宙中的任何两个物体之间。牛顿定律的不断试验表明，它适用于很多情况（尽管爱因斯坦后来强调并不是适用于所有的情况）。由于牛顿定律在解释试验时很成功，所以今天它仍然在世界各个大学的物理课程中被学习。This interplay between theory and observation also occurs in the field of economics. An economist might live in a country experiencing rapid increases in p
16、rices and be moved by this observation to develop a theory of inflation. The theory might assert that high inflation arises when the government prints too much money. (As you may recall, this was one of the Ten Principles of Economics in Chapter 1.) To test this theory, the economist could collect and analyze data on prices and money from many different countries. If growt
