When it comes to big questions about the economy, we're still kind of in the dark ages. Why do some economies grow so much faster than others? How long is the next recession going to last? How do we stop inflation without wrecking the rest of the economy? These questions are the domain of macroeconomics. But even some macroeconomists themselves admit: While we have many theories about how the economy works, we have very few satisfying answers. Emi Nakamura wants to change all that. She's a superstar economist who is a pioneer in the field of "empirical macroeconomics." She finds clever ways of using data to untangle some of the oldest mysteries in macroeconomics, about the invisible hand, the consequences of government spending, and the inner workings of inflation. Recently we called her up to ask her why the economy is so difficult to understand in first place, and how she's trying to find answers anyway. She gets into all of that, and how Jeff Goldblum shaped her career as an economist, in this episode. This show was hosted by Jeff Guo and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Dave Blanchard with help from Sam Yellowhorse Kesler. It was engineered by Josephine Nyounai and fact checked by Sierra Juarez. Keith Romer edited the show. Alex Goldmark is our executive producer. Help support Planet Money and get bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy
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You know what really drives me up the wall?
Is it Jeff Guo Rantauer, we're doing this right here.
All right.
What drives you up the wall?
I really hate it when people talk trash about economics.
You know, like, oh, economists, they don't know anything.
They didn't even see the financial crisis coming.
But they didn't see the financial crisis coming, Jeff.
So what's the rub?
Okay, I know, I know the economists that don't know anything.
Those are not all economists.
Those are just the macroeconomists.
They're the ones giving econ a bad name.
Right?
So as every planet money listener knows, macroeconomists, they are in charge of studying all the big forces in the economy, inflation, unemployment, growth, whereas the micro economists, they think about how businesses and people make decisions out in the world, right?
And the microeconomists, they know things.
Microeconomists look at actual data.
They're running experiments.
They are legitimately trying to do science.