In this paper, I focus on the contrast between doing elegant, or peer impressing applied economics, and relevant applied economics that develops solutions to real‐world problems. I emphatically applaud elegant economics but in this paper focus on how our profession can achieve relevance to those outside our profession. In particular, I examine several key areas of professional relevance. First, I examine how technological change can disrupt not only the industries we normally examine but also our profession. Second, I examine our dependence on available, quality data. From that perspective, I advocate for greater efforts and leadership with respect to data for our profession. Next, I examine our engagement with industry and our non‐Ph.D. graduates. This leads me to pose the question of whether we would gain from great efforts to engage non‐academic alumni of our departments? Finally, I draw upon my experiences with the policy makers to suggest we should walk a fine line between advocacy for our discipline, and science in general, while vigorously maintaining objectivity and nonpartisanship in our work.

中文翻译：

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相关和/或优雅的经济学

在这篇论文中，我将重点放在做优雅的或令人印象深刻的应用经济学与为现实世界问题开发解决方案的相关应用经济学之间的对比。我大力赞扬优雅的经济学，但在本文中，重点是我们的专业如何与我们专业以外的人建立关联。我特别研究了几个与专业相关的关键领域。首先，我研究了技术变革如何不仅会破坏我们通常研究的行业，还会破坏我们的职业。其次，我检查了我们对可用、高质量数据的依赖。从这个角度来看，我主张为我们的职业在数据方面做出更大的努力和领导力。接下来，我将检查我们与行业的互动以及我们的非博士学位。毕业生。这让我提出一个问题，我们是否会从我们系的非学术校友参与的巨大努力中获益？最后，我利用我与政策制定者的经验建议我们应该在我们的学科和一般科学的倡导之间走一条细线，同时在我们的工作中大力保持客观性和无党派性。