第1讲 经济学的范围和方法(微观经济学-郑州大学,王文玉)

•英国著名经济学家罗宾斯的定义：Economics is the science that studies the allocation of scarce means among competing ends. 这是现代西方主流经济学教课书中流行 的定义，强调稀缺资源的有效配置问题。 •Samuelson：Economics is the study of how societies use the scarce resources to produce valuable commodities and distribute them among different people.
--经济学研究以演绎为主。 经济现象的背后是人的有目的行动。人共有的大脑结构 和思维方式使经济学家可以通过内省来认识人的行动中 的基本规律。所以，J. E. Cairnes写到： 经济学家一开始就知道根本原因。在他的事业的开始， 他已经领先物理学家很多，处于物理学家很长时期的辛 苦研究才能达到的位置……这是因为，发现这样的前提 无需归纳过程……正是因为这个理由，当我们转向这个 学科时，在我们的意识中，什么事情进入了我们的大脑， 以及我们的感觉向我们传递了哪些有关外部事实的信息， 我们有或者可以有关于这些原因的直接知识。
在民主政治时代，经济学的任务是帮助人民选择合理的 经济制度，帮助政府制定经济政策。 In order for a country to act intelligently in adopting laws and institutions that bear upon economic life, it is clearly necessary that its citizens understand the principles that govern the development and functioning of the division of labor, that is, understand the principles of economics. If they do not, then it is only a question of time before that country will adopt more and more destructive laws and institutions, ultimately stopping all further economic progress and causing actual economic decline.【 Reisman 】
But it is different in the field of social organization and economic policies. Here the best theories are useless if not supported by public opinion. They cannot work if not accepted by a majority of the people. Whatever the system of government may be, there cannot be any question of ruling a nation lastingly on the ground of doctrines at variance with public opinion. In the end the philosophy of the majority prevails. In the long run there cannot be any such thing as an unpopular system of government. The difference between democracy and despotism does not affect the final outcome. It refers only to the method by which the adjustment of the system of government to the ideology held by public opinion is brought about. Unpopular autocrats can only be dethroned by revolutionary upheavals, while unpopular democratic rulers are peacefully ousted in the next election.
三、经济学的方法
• 经济学研究以演绎为主
--归纳(induction)是从个别到一般；演绎(deduction)是从 一般到个别。
--自然科学必须从归纳开始 。 Four steps in the development of scientific knowledge ቤተ መጻሕፍቲ ባይዱre： 1. Observation of empirical regularities or “laws.” 2. Construction of hypothetical explanatory generalizations from which these laws can be deduced and, hence, explained. 3. Deduction, from these generalizations, of further consequences that can be tested. 4. Rejection or modification of explanatory generalizations in the light of test results.
•Whately:The name I should have preferred as the most descriptive, and on the whole least objectionable, is that of CATALLACTICS, or the "Science of Exchanges.“[Introductory Lectures on Political Economy, Lecture I ] •Reisman: Economics is the science that studies the production of wealth under a system of division of labor. •经济学研究如何使分工充分发挥作用的制度。
In the market economy the realization of technological innovations does not require anything more than the cognizance of their reasonableness by one or a few enlightened spirits. No dullness and clumsiness on the part of the masses can stop the pioneers of improvement. There is no need for them to win the approval of inert people beforehand. They are free to embark upon their projects even if everyone else laughs at them. Later, when the new, better and cheaper products appear on the market, these scoffers will scramble for them. However dull a man may be, he knows how to tell the difference between a cheaper shoe and a more expensive one, and to appreciate the usefulness of new products.
二、经济学的重要性
• 经济学的重要性源于财富的重要性，而人对财富的需要 是无限的。 • 广泛传播的经济学思想决定经济制度和政策。 The ideas of economists and political philosophers, both when they are right and when are wrong, are more powerful than is commonly understood. Indeed, the world is ruled by little else. Practical men, who believe themselves to be quite exempt from any intellectual influences, are usually slaves of some defunct economist. John Maynard Keynes.
The flowering of human society depends on two factors: the intellectual power of outstanding men to conceive sound social and economic theories, and the ability of these or other men to make these ideologies palatable to the majority. Human Action, XXXVII. 2
•多数人是为了拿文凭而被迫学经济学。 •有些人是为了更好地理解社会经济现象而学经济学。 •有些人误以为经济学是能够使个人致富的学问而学经 济学。经济学的一些教导也许对商人有一些应用价值， 因为很多经济学“原理”只不过是已经被商人、政治家 和大众的经验证实了的思想。 •有些人因为想成为经济学家或经济学教师而学习经济 学。