双语阅读｜为何经济学家都涌向了硅谷？

◆双语阅读

For more than a decade Facebook, now known as Meta, has awarded fellowships to promising graduate students working on cutting-edge research. The prize, which this year comes with up to two years’ worth of university tuition and a $42,000 stipend, has gone to computer scientists, engineers, physicists and statisticians. Now it has gone to an economist. “I was not expecting it,” says Jaume Vives i Bastida, the lucky recipient working on a PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

翻译▼

十多年来，Facebook（已改名为Meta）一直在给做前沿课题的杰出研究生发放奖学金。今年的获奖者最高可得到两年的学费和4.2万美元的生活补贴。以往的获奖者一般都来自计算机科学、工程、物理和统计学专业。今年还有一位来自经济学专业。“我没想到能入选。”海梅·维韦斯·巴斯蒂达斯说。这名幸运儿目前在麻省理工学院攻读博士学位。

Silicon Valley is increasingly turning to economics for insights into how to solve business problems—from pricing and product development to strategy. Job-placement data from ten leading graduate programmes in economics shows that tech firms hired one in seven newly minted PhDs in 2022, up from less than one in 20 in 2018. Amazon is the keenest recruiter. The e-emporium now has some 400 full-time economists on staff, several times as many as a typical research university. Uber is another big employer—last year the ride-hailing firm hired a fifth of Harvard University’s graduating PhD class.

翻译 ▼

硅谷正在越来越多地转向经济学寻求洞见，以解决从定价、产品研发到战略的各种商业问题。排名前十的经济学研究生课程的就业数据显示，科技公司在2022年招聘了七分之一的博士应届毕业生，而在2018年还不到二十分之一。亚马逊最热衷于招聘员工。优步是另一个大雇主，这家网约车公司去年雇用了哈佛大学五分之一的经济学博士应届毕业生。

For the dismal scientists pay is a factor, says John List, a professor at the University of Chicago who has worked at Uber and Lyft. But tech companies also offer many of the benefits of a university career without the “publish or perish” culture. In the past, heading to the private sector often meant forgoing research completely. Now, explains Mr Vives, “Research can still be a big component of your job.” Access to the companies’ ample data is another selling point, says Steve Tadelis of the University of California, Berkeley, who spent two years at eBay, an online marketplace.

翻译 ▼

曾在优步和Lyft工作过的芝加哥大学教授约翰•利斯特表示，科学家们薪水惨淡是一个因素。但科技公司也提供了许多大学生涯的好处，没有“不发表就灭亡”的文化。过去，进入私营单位往往意味着完全放弃研究。现在，维夫斯解释说，“研究仍然可以成为你工作的一个重要组成部分。”加州大学伯克利分校的史蒂夫•塔德利斯说，能够获得这些公司丰富的数据是另一个卖点，他曾在在线市场eBay工作了两年。

For big tech, meanwhile, economists offer skills that computer scientists and engineers often lack. They tend to have a good grasp of statistics, as well as a knack for understanding how incentives affect human behaviour. Most important, economists are adept at designing experiments to identify causal relationships between variables.

翻译 ▼

同时，对于大型科技公司，经济专家们通常拥有计算机科学家和工程师缺乏的技能。他们往往能良好地掌握统计能力，也理解激励会如何对人类行为造成影响。最重要的是，经济学家擅长通过设计实验的方式确定变量之间的因果关系。

For all its recent recruitment success, Silicon Valley may have a harder time attracting the finest economists. In contrast to fields like artificial intelligence, “our best minds still stay in the academy,” observes Mr List. Maybe not for long. “I would like to be a professor, I would like to do research for a living,” says Mr Vives. “I can also do that at a tech company.”

翻译 ▼

尽管硅谷最近招聘成功，但可能很难吸引最优秀的经济专家。与人工智能等领域相比，“我们最好的人才仍然留在学院里，”利斯特先生经过观察后说。不过这种情况可能不会长久，“我想做教授，我想以研究为生，”维夫斯说，“我在一家科技公司也可以做到这些。

本文节选自：The Economist（经济学人）

发布时间：2022.09.18

作者：Business

原文标题：Why economists are flocking to Silicon Valley

◆词汇积累

1. edge

/ɛdʒ/n. 边，边缘; 锋，刃; 优势; 影响力，奇特的品质; (声音里的)尖锐，怒气; (坏事的)边缘，临界点v. 缓慢地移动; 给……加边; 险胜; 用球拍边击球; 倾斜滑雪; 修剪(草地边缘); 使锐利，使尖锐

2.stipend

/ˈstaɪpɛnd/ n.（尤指神职人员的）薪金；生活津贴，薪俸；助学津贴

3.mint

/mɪnt/n. 薄荷; 薄荷糖; 铸币厂; 巨款v. 铸造(硬币); 创造，制造adj. (物品)崭新的，无污损的

4.emporium

/ɛmˈpɔːrɪəm/n.商场，大百货商店；商业中心

5.knack

/næk/n.诀窍；本领；熟练技术；巧妙手法

◆词组搭配

1.insight into 深入了解；洞察

◆写作句总结

They tend to have a good grasp of statistics, as well as a knack for understanding how incentives affect human behaviour.

结构: They tend to have a good grasp of …, as well as a knack for understanding how incentives affect human behaviour. 他们往往能良好地掌握…能力，也理解激励会如何对人类行为造成影响

例句: They tend to have a good grasp of psychology, as well as a knack for understanding how incentives affect human behaviour.