BY THE TIME(到……的时候) the call came from Stockholm, it felt overdue(迟到的，过期的). In 2024 Daron Acemoglu of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shared the Nobel prize in economics with Simon Johnson and James Robinson for work on how institutions shape prosperity. Mr Acemoglu is only 58 years old, but for some time he has been the discipline’s colossus(巨人，巨物). He has written seven books, including a new one about democracy and the economic impact of artificial intelligence, not counting a couple of popular textbooks. His hundreds of papers, more than ten of them published this year, are often stuffed with(塞满，充满) complex mathematics. He competes with Andrei Shleifer of Harvard University for top spot on a citation ranking of economists produced by IDEAS/RePEc, a research database. His views carry weight with other wonks(政策专家，书呆子) and the media.
当斯德哥尔摩的电话打来时，感觉已经迟了。2024年，麻省理工学院的达龙·阿西莫格鲁与西蒙·约翰逊和詹姆斯·罗宾逊共同获得诺贝尔经济学奖，以表彰他们在制度如何塑造繁荣方面的研究。阿西莫格鲁年仅58岁，但一段时间以来他一直是经济学界的巨人。他写了七本书，包括一本关于民主和人工智能经济影响的新书，还不算几本流行的教科书。他的数百篇论文（其中十多篇今年发表）常常充斥着复杂的数学。他与哈佛大学的安德烈·施莱弗在经济学家的引用排名中争夺榜首，该排名由研究数据库IDEAS/RePEc制作。他的观点在政策专家和媒体中具有影响力。
Give economists a few drinks, however, and some will venture their true opinions about this giant.(然而，给经济学家几杯酒下肚，有些人就会大胆说出对这位巨人的真实看法。) “Much of his theoretical work is useful, but he uses his models to inform populist policies that have been tried before and failed,” blasts(猛烈抨击) one well-known economist. Some commentators do not require Dutch courage(酒后之勇). “I’ve been yelling about Acemoglu for literally a decade,” Noah Smith, an economics blogger, has said, in response to a flurry of(一阵，一连串) online criticism of Mr Acemoglu’s work.
然而，给经济学家几杯酒下肚，有些人就会大胆说出对这位巨人的真实看法。“他的许多理论工作很有用，但他用他的模型来支持以前尝试过并失败的民粹主义政策，”一位知名经济学家猛烈抨击道。一些评论员并不需要酒后壮胆。“我实际上已经对阿西莫格鲁大喊大叫了十年，”经济学博主诺亚·史密斯在回应网上对阿西莫格鲁作品的一连串批评时说道。
No one accuses Mr Acemoglu of truly poor research, let alone(更不用说) academic malpractice(渎职，不当行为). “He is obviously a genius,” says another economist, who adds that he is generous to PhD students and junior colleagues. The question is whether his reputation at the very apex of the economics profession—and the intellectual influence that goes with it—is justified by his scholarship.(问题在于，他在经济学界顶尖的声誉——以及随之而来的学术影响力——是否配得上他的学术成就。)
没有人指责阿西莫格鲁的研究真正糟糕，更不用说学术不端了。“他显然是个天才，”另一位经济学家说，他还补充说他对博士生和初级同事很慷慨。问题在于，他在经济学界顶尖的声誉——以及随之而来的学术影响力——是否配得上他的学术成就。