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The Macroeconomist as Scientist and Engineer

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N. Gregory Mankiw

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Abstract

This essay offers a brief history of macroeconomics, together with an evaluation of what has been learned over the past several decades. It is based on the premise that the field has evolved through the efforts of two types of macroeconomist%u2014 those who understand the field as a type of engineering and those who would like it to be more of a science. While the early macroeconomists were engineers trying to solve practical problems, macroeconomists have more recently focused on developing analytic tools and establishing theoretical principles. These tools and principles, however, have been slow to find their way into applications. As the field of macroeconomics has evolved, one recurrent theme is the interaction%u2014sometimes productive and sometimes not%u2014 between the scientists and the engineers.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 12349.

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Date of creation: Jul 2006
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:12349

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  1. Ian McDonald, 2008. "Behavioural Macroeconomics And Wage And Price Setting: Developing Some Early Insights Of John Maynard Keynes And Joan Robinson," CAMA Working Papers 2009-11, Australian National University, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis. [Downloadable!]
  2. Ray C. Fair, 2009. "Has Macro Progressed?," Cowles Foundation Discussion Papers 1728, Cowles Foundation, Yale University. [Downloadable!]
  3. Orlando Gomes, 2008. "Endogenous Growth, Price Stability and Market Disequilibria," Working Papers ercwp0608, ISCTE, UNIDE, Economics Research Centre. [Downloadable!]
  4. Tovar, Camilo Ernesto, 2008. "DSGE Models and Central Banks," Economics Discussion Papers 2008-30, Kiel Institute for the World Economy. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Brian Snowdon, 2007. "The New Classical Counter-Revolution: False Path or Illuminating Complement?," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 541-562, Fall. [Downloadable!]
  6. Carmine Gorga, 2009. "Concordian Economics: Tools to Return Relevance to Economics," Forum for Social Economics, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 53-69, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Luiz Carlos, BRESSER-PEREIRA, 2009. "From old to new developmentalism in latin America," Textos para discussão 193, Escola de Economia de São Paulo, Getulio Vargas Foundation (Brazil). [Downloadable!]
  8. Gomes, Orlando, 2007. "A two-dimensional non-equilibrium dynamic model," MPRA Paper 4817, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
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  9. Pierpaolo Benigno, 2009. "New-Keynesian Economics: An AS-AD View," NBER Working Papers 14824, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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