Leaders
Economics
90. What went wrong with economics
Jul 16th 2009 From The Economist print edition

And how the discipline should change to avoid the mistakes of the past

90-1-423
OF ALL the the economic bubbles that have been pricked, few have burst more spectacularly than the reputation of economics itself. A few years ago, the dismal science was being acclaimed as a way of explaining ever more forms of human behaviour, from drug-dealing to sumo-wrestling. Wall Street ransacked the best universities for game theorists and options modellers. And on the public stage, economists were seen as far more trustworthy than politicians. John McCain joked that Alan Greenspan, then chairman of the Federal Reserve, was so indispensable that if he died, the president should "prop him up and put a pair of dark glasses on him."
In the wake of the biggest economic calamity in 80 years that reputation has taken a beating. In the public mind an arrogant profession has been humbled. Though economists are still at the centre of the policy debatethink of Ben Bernanke or Larry Summers in America or Mervyn King in Britaintheir pronouncements are viewed with more scepticism than before. The profession itself is suffering from guilt and rancour. In a recent lecture, Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel prize in economics in 2008, argued that much of the past 30 years of macroeconomics was "spectacularly useless at best, and positively harmful at worst." Barry Eichengreen, a prominent American economic historian, says the crisis has "cast into doubt much of what we thought we knew about economics."

A. 어휘
leader 신문사설. the discipline 본문에서는 경제학을 의미.
discipline 학과, 학문의 부문(분야). prick 찔러서 작은 구멍을 뚫다.
burst-burst-burst 폭발하다, 파열하다. spectacularly 장엄하게, 굉장하게.
reputation 명성. economics 경제학. dismal 陰散(음산)한, 우울한.
acclaim 喝采(갈채)를 보내다, 환호하다. drug-dealing 마약거래.
ransack 샅샅이 뒤지다. Wall Street 미국 금융시장의 중심지. theorist 이론가.
option 선택 매매권. modeller 모형설계사. the Federal Reserve 미국의 중앙은행.
indispensable 필수 不可缺(불가결)한. wake 지나간 자국, 航跡(항적).
In the wake of ...의 결과로, ...에 뒤이어. calamity 災殃(재앙).
take a beating 얻어맞다. arrogant 거만한. profession 전문적인 직업, 公言(공언).
humble 꺾다, 겸손하게 하다. pronouncement 의견, 公告(공고).
scepticism 의심,懷疑(회의). rancour 원한, 증오. lecture 강연, 강의.
macroeconomics 巨視經濟學(거시경제학). spectacularly 굉장하게, 극적으로.
at best 잘 해야, 기껏해야. positively 명확하게. prominent 卓越(탁월)한, 현저한.
crisis 위기. cast into doubt 의심하게 하다.

B. 구문
- if he died, the president should . . . a pair of dark glasses on him.󰡓
cf. 가정법과거→if+S+과거동사..., S+법조동사과거+V (현재사실의 반대의 경우를 가 정, 상상.)
ex. As he does not work hard, he will not pass the exam.(직설법 현재)
→If he worked hard, he would pass the exam.
[그가 만약 죽는다면 대통령은 그를 떠받쳐 앉혀놓고 검은 안경을 씌워주어야 할 것이다.(그가 하도 중요한 인물이라서 그가 죽어도 죽지 않은 것처럼 보이도록 해야 할 것이다.)]

90-2-424
In its crudest formthe idea that economics as a whole is discreditedthe current backlash has gone far too far. If ignorance allowed investors and politicians to exaggerate the virtues of economics, it now blinds them to its benefits. Economics is less a slavish creed than a prism through which to understand the world. It is a broad canon, stretching from theories to explain how prices are determined to how economies grow. Much of that body of knowledge has no link to the financial crisis and remains as useful as ever.
And if economics as a broad discipline deserves a robust defence, so does the free-market paradigm. Too many people, especially in Europe, equate mistakes made by economists with a failure of economic liberalism. Their logic seems to be that if economists got things wrong, then politicians will do better. That is a falseand dangerousconclusion.

Rational fools
These important caveats, however, should not obscure the fact that two central parts of the disciplinemacroeconomics and financial economicsare now, rightly, being severely re-examined . There are three main critiques: that macro and financial economists helped cause the crisis, that they failed to spot it, and that they have no idea how to fix it.

A. 어휘
In its crudest form 가장 투박한(노골적인) 형태로서. discredit 신용을 떨어뜨리다.
current 현재의. backlash 반발, 반동. ignorance 無知(무지). investor 투자자.
exaggerate 과장하다. virtue 가치, 장점, 미덕. blind 눈멀게 하다. benefit 이익.
slavish 모방적인, 독창성이 없는, 노예의, 비굴한. creed 敎理(교리), 信條(신조).
canon 계율, 법전. the financial crisis 금융위기. discipline 학문의 분야.
deserve ...을 받을 만 하다, ...의 가치가 있다. robust 튼튼한, 건장한.
defence 변호, 옹호, 변명, 국방, 방어. equate 동일시하다, 等式化(등식화)하다.
logic 논리. rational 합리적인. caveat 경고, 주의. obscure 덮어 감추다, 희미하게 하다.
macroeconomics 巨視經濟學(거시경제학). rightly 당연히, 진정으로.
severely 엄격하게, 심하게. re-examine 재점검하다. critique 비평.
spot 알아 보다, 분간하다. fix 수리하다.

B. 구문
- Economics is less a slavish creed . . . to understand the world.
[경제학은 창조성이 없는 敎理(교리)이기 보다는 그것을 통해서 세상을 이해할 수 있는 프리즘 같은 것이다.]