[영문독후감] 폴 크루그먼의 The Accidental Theorist

The Accidental Theorist
All work and no play makes William Greider a dull boy.
By Paul Krugman
(1,784 words; posted Thursday, Jan. 23; to be composted Thursday, Jan. 30)

Imagine an economy that produces only two things: hot dogs and buns. Consumers in this economy insist that every hot dog come with a bun, and vice versa. And labor is the only input to production.
OK, timeout. Before we go any further, I need to ask what you think of an essay that begins this way. Does it sound silly to you? Were you about to turn the virtual page, figuring that this couldn`t be about anything important?
One of the points of this column is to illustrate a paradox: You can`t do serious economics unless you are willing to be playful. Economic theory is not a collection of dictums laid down by pompous authority figures. Mainly, it is a menagerie of thought experimentsparables, if you likethat are intended to capture the logic of economic processes in a simplified way. In…