N格雷戈里曼昆，是一位具有奇才的年轻学者。不足30岁的曼昆已成为了哈佛大学的终身教授，教授宏观经济学和经济学原理。需知，哈佛大学的终身教授，非各个领域前三名的学术带头人莫属。菜单成本理论是他的成名作。 这段英语，是经济学家曼昆在自己的一篇文章中写的，后面是我大致的翻译，可能有和原文出入的地方，仅供参考。我很认同其关于学习深度与广度的选择，特向大家推荐！ Rule No.3: Have Broad Interests 第三条经验：培养广泛的兴趣 Throughout my life, I have been blessed with broad interests. (Or, perhaps, I have been cursed with a short attention span.) As a child, I had numerous hobbies. I collected coins, stamps, shells, rocks, marbles, baseball cards, and campaign buttons. For pets, I had turtles, snakes, mice, fish, salamanders, chameleons, ducks, and, finally, a cocker spaniel. In high school, I spent my time playing chess, fencing, and sailing. I have long since given up all these activities (although I do have a border terrier named Keynes.) 纵观我的生活，我得益于广泛的兴趣。（也许，我曾经被指责在某一个方面持续的热情太短）孩提时期，我的嗜好层出不穷。我搜集硬币、邮票、弹壳、石子儿、大理石、棒球卡片和战役按钮。还有宠物， 我养海龟，蛇，老鼠，鱼，火蜥蜴，变色龙，鸭子 最后，还有 可卡犬。高中的时候，我大部分时间用来玩象棋、击剑和帆船。很久以前，我就放弃了这些东西了（虽然，直到现在我还养着一条叫 Keynes 的小狗）。 As a college student, I committed myself to a new major several times each semester, alternating most often among physics, philosophy, statistics, mathematics, and economics. After college my path was indirect and largely unplanned. In chronological order, I spent a summer working at the Congressional Budget Office, a year studying at the MIT economics department, a year studying at Harvard Law School, a summer working at a law firm, a year working at the Council of Economic Advisers, a second year at MIT finishing my PhD, another semester studying at Harvard Law School, and then another semester at MIT, this time as an instructor teaching statistics and microeconomics. In 1985, I gave up my studies in law and became an assistant professor at the Harvard economics department, where in my first year I taught principles of economics and graduate macroeconomics. 上大学的时候，每个学期我都会让自己一次次地专注于新的专业，在物理、哲学、统计、数学和经济学之间频繁地转换兴趣。大学结束以后我的生活道路在很大程度上没有什么规划。按照时间顺序来排的话，我先后在国会预算办公室里干了一个夏天，在麻省理工大学经济系学习了一年，在哈佛大学法律学院学习了一年，在一家律师事务所干了一个夏天，在经济规划局工作了一年，又用第二年的时间拿到了我在麻省理工学院的哲学博士学位，又在哈佛大学法律学院学习一个学期，然后又回到麻省理工学了一个学期，这次是当教师，教统计数学和微观经济学。８５年，我放弃了自己在法律方面的研究，成为哈佛大学经济系的一个助教，在这里的第一年，我教经济学原理，还有毕业生的宏观经济学。 Remarkably, I have been at Harvard now for about a decade.Harvard is a wonderful place to work. Yet I often get the itch to leave, just for the sake of doing something different. One thing that keeps me at Harvard is the proximity of the National Bureau of Economic Research. Every year the NBER holds dozens of conferences on various topics with prominent economists from around the world. Having an office at the NBER is a bit like moving to a new university every few days. My broad interests (short attention span) help to explain my diverse (incoherent) body of work. My research spans across much of economics. Within macroeconomics, I have published papers on price adjustment, consumer behavior, asset pricing, fiscal policy, monetary policy, and economic growth. I have even ventured outside of macroeconomics and published papers on fertility with imperfect birth control, the taxation of fringe benefits, entry into imperfectly competitive markets, and the demographic determinants of housing demand. None of this is part of a grand plan. At any moment, I work on whatever then interests me most. 值得一提的是，我在哈佛呆了将近十年。哈佛是一个非常适合工作的地方，但是我却常常渴望离开，不为别的，就是想干点不一样的工作。有一件事情，它把我留在了哈佛，那就是我可以近水楼台先得月，亲近国际经济研究局。每年，国际经济研究局组织几十次内容各异的国际会议，世界上杰出的经济学家都会参与其中。在国际经济研究局有一间办公室，简直就等于每隔几天换一所大学。我的广泛的爱好（还有三分钟的热情）正好帮我如同分身一般应对各种工作。我的研究范围覆盖了很多的经济领域。在宏观经济方面，我在价格调整、消费行为、资产定价、财政政策、垄断政策以及经济增长这几个领域都发表了论文。在宏观经济之外，我也发表了论文，比如，不完全生育控制条件下的生产力、边际效应税、不完全竞争市场的进入、以及根据房产需求进行人口统计。这些，都不是我的什么宏伟计划。任何时候，我都是率性而为，做哪些最吸引我的工作。 Coming up with ideas is the hardest and least controllable part of the research process. It is somewhat easier if you have broad interests. Most obviously, broad interests give you more opportunities for success. A miner is more likely to strike gold if he looks over a large field than over the same field over and over again. More important, thinking about one topic can generate ideas about other topics. I started thinking about menu costs and macroeconomic price adjustment, for instance, as I sat in a law school seminar that was discussing monopoly pricing and antitrust policy. Research ideas pop up in unexpected places. 灵光闪现是研究过程中最难、也最不能控制的过程。如果你有广泛的爱好，那么这个过程就会相对容易一些。显而易见，广泛地兴趣为你的成功提供了更多的机会。一个寻找黄金的掘矿者，在更大范围内寻找很可能更容易成功，比在一个区域内反复敲打要强一些。更为重要的是，思考一个话题会引起另外一个话题的灵感。举个例子，当我坐在一个法律学院的研讨班，讨论垄断价格和反托拉斯政策的时候，我忽然想到了菜单花费和宏观经济价格调整。研究的灵感，常常在无法预料的地点闪出火光。 Of course, breadth has its costs. One is that it makes writing grant proposals more difficult. I am always tempted to write, I want to spend the next few years doing whatever I feel like doing. Please send me money so I can do so. Yet, in most cases, those giving out grant money want at least the pretense of a long-term research plan. 当然，宽泛是要付出代价的。其中之一就是写项目申请十分困难。我常常有这样写的冲动：我想在未来几年内做我自己喜欢做的事情，请拿钱来，以遂我愿。但是，很多时候，那些掏钱的，总是希望至少能够看到一个长期的研究计划。 The greatest cost of breadth, however, is lack of depth. I sometimes fear that because I work in so many different areas, each line of work is more superficial than it otherwise would be. Careful choice of co-authors can solve this problem to some extent, but not completely. I am always certain that whatever topic I am working on at that moment, someone else has spent many more hours thinking about it than I have. There is something to be said for devoting a lifetime to mastering a single subject. 但是，宽泛最大的代价，是缺乏深度。我有时会担心，我在这么多的领域内工作，而每一个领域主要我投入更多的精力，都可以做得比现在更好。小心翼翼地挑选合作伙伴可以在一定程度上解决这个问题，但是不能彻底。我几乎可以断言：在任何一个我工作的领域，总有一些人花费了比我多得多的时间，思考专业领域的东西。据说，有为一个领域奉献终生的。 But it wont be my lifetime. I just don't have the temperament for it. 但是，那不是我的生活，我不是那块料。
标签: 曼昆
