二十五个经济学大问题（英文版供参考）

What is the proper method to conduct research in economic science?

• The economist should not mimic the behavior of the natural scientists, because the social sciences involve human beings. Human action is characterized by intentional behavior, which involves the rational use of means to achieve desired ends. The very subject matter of economics—capital goods, money, wage rates, etc.—is not defined by physical or chemical properties, but instead by the mental or subjective attitudes that human minds take toward these things. Consequently, the proper method for an economist is to start with self-evident axioms—such as that people try to achieve the highest satisfaction at the lowest cost—and logically deduce conclusions from them.
• Like the physicist, the economist (if he wants to be scientific) should construct a precise model that yields quantitative predictions about economic variables, such as GDP and unemployment. Then the economist should test those predictions against the actual data as collected by statistical researchers. At any given time, the best explanation or "theory" of a certain economic phenomenon is that model which yields the best fit between predictions and actual data.
• The question is misleading; economics cannot really be scientific in the conventional sense of the term. In physics we have fixed "laws" that are the same in every society and every time period. In contrast, there are no fixed laws in economics. The economist might study a certain historical episode and conclude that, say, rent control didn’t achieve its objectives when it was tried in Manhattan after World War II. Nonetheless, it may still be true that rent control could work in Paris in 2004 if the people in charge take care to avoid the mistakes of the past.
• To be scientific, we need to modify the traditional economistic approach of viewing society as nothing but a collection of atomistic, egoistic individuals. In reality, human beings consider themselves to be part of a greater social whole. A more fruitful avenue of research would be to study the complex groups with which people identify, whether class, race, or sex. Such an analysis would reveal the undeniable power of relationships in society, and give a much better understanding of economic events than typical, simplistic economic models.

私有财产的正确经济地位是什么？

1. 财产是人类与物质之间自然产生的关系。财产和可执行的财产权使经济计算成为可能，扩大并更有生产力的劳动分工，因此繁荣水平不断提高。实际上，如果没有私有财产，文明本身是不可想象的。任何对财产的侵犯都会导致自由和繁荣的丧失。

   • 解析

2. 财产是现代文明中大多数严重不平等和压迫的核心。只有通过监管、转移支付、财产再分配和共同所有，社会才能实现公平、正义和所有人的尊严。

   • 解析

3. 观点：财产是我们社会系统的重要组成部分，但其作为“权利”的地位是有条件的。为了公共利益，它必须受到监管和修改。国家必须干预，以防止经济权力的滥用，即使代价是减少所有者的传统特权。

   解析：这一立场是社会民主主义和进步经济学的典型观点。约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯和阿马蒂亚·森等思想家认为，虽然财产权很重要，但必须进行监管以确保社会福利。国家应干预以遏制经济滥用，促进公共利益，在个人财产权和社会需求之间取得平衡。

   参考书目：《就业、利息和货币通论》，作者：约翰·梅纳德·凯恩斯；《发展自由：超越市场与国家》，作者：阿马蒂亚·森。

4. 观点：财产是繁荣和经济增长的核心。因此，至关重要的是，国家或更抽象地说法律，应维护和修改财产权束，以便以促进最大增长和经济效率的方式分配交易成本。财产并不是自然产生的，而是法律制度的最终产物。

   解析：这一观点与制度经济学和法律与经济学运动一致。道格拉斯·诺思和理查德·波斯纳等学者认为，财产权是法律体系的产物，旨在减少交易成本和提高经济效率。他们强调法律在塑造财产权以促进经济增长和繁荣方面的作用。

   参考书目：《制度、制度变迁与经济绩效》，作者：道格拉斯·诺思。

What is the reason for the interest rate, and should the rate be regulated?

• Interest payments compensate investors for their loss of liquidity when they sink cash into a business project or lend it out for a certain period; the interest rate is the price of liquidity. Interest is a monetary phenomenon, not a "real" one (as the classical economists thought). Modern economics recognizes the role of expectations or what might generically be called "confidence in the future." For example, if the interest rate jumps from 5% to 10%, this does not mean that people have become more oriented towards present consumption; it could simply reflect heightened anxiety about the economy. Government manipulation of the interest rate is certainly one of several tools needed to smooth economic fluctuations, but by itself this approach is relatively impotent. If everyone fears a worsening recession, employers will not hire more workers or build more factories, no matter how low the interest rate is pushed.
• Interest payments are a return on capital, and the interest rate in equilibrium equals the marginal product of capital. The situation is perfectly analogous to labor, where the wage rate equals the marginal product of labor. There are various technological recipes yielding output at various future dates, and consumers have preferences for consumption at various future dates. On the margin, present consumption will be preferred to future consumption, and an extra unit of capital invested will yield an increment in output (available in the future) that just makes the consumer indifferent between consuming now or waiting an additional unit of time and consuming the higher yield made possible by the productivity of capital. The government should not meddle with interest rates, for the same reasons that the government should not meddle with wage rates.
• "Interest" is just a codeword for profit; a capitalist earns interest when he spends less on wages and raw materials than he earns from selling the final product. This surplus value arises from the exploited workers hired by the capitalist. Under the wage system, workers are paid the bare minimum they need to survive, even though the full product of their labor far exceeds their compensation from the employer. In this respect, the wage system is no different from traditional slavery, where the slave owner keeps the product yielded by his slaves’ toil, and from this fund only "pays" them enough to maintain their bare survival. Obviously interest is a barbaric feature of capitalist societies, and will disappear once the system of wage slavery is overturned.
• Interest payments reflect the higher value of present goods over future goods. Other things equal, everyone wants to consume sooner rather than later. The current price of a computer might be $1,000, but the price of a claim to a computer delivered in one year would currently sell for less than that, say $900. An entrepreneur might invest $900 in labor and raw materials in order to sell a product next year for $1,000; his implicit interest return is due to the fact that the factors of production represent technological "claims" on future consumption goods, and thus their current price (the $900) is less than their ultimate sale price ($1,000). Obviously the government need not interfere with the market interest rate, since it merely reflects the subjective premium individuals place on a marginal present good over a marginal future good.

What is the economic impact of saving?