In the past two decades some of the history of economics turned from histories of economic ideas or economic thought, focusing on the study of “theories” and “schools of thought”, to histories of, for example, epistemic mediators such as “models”, “experiments”, “measurements”, and “observations.” The articles in this special issue show that a change of perspective in historical analysis toward the practice of macroeconometric modeling will enrich the history of macroeconomics. The history of macroeconomics is not only a history of ideas, but includes also histories of tools, especially macroeconometric models. These models are never built by one person, but require close cooperation of multiple teams, each from a specific discipline, while their workplaces are not necessarily located at universities. Unlike theories, a tool is designed and made for a specific purpose and have clients. This shift of focus from macroeconomic theories to macroeconometric models will perhaps give as a better understanding of the unfolding of modern economics.

中文翻译：

---

宏观经济计量模型的历史

在过去的二十年里，一些经济学史从经济思想史或经济思想史转向侧重于“理论”和“思想流派”的研究，例如“模型”等认知中介的历史、“实验”、“测量”和“观察”。本期特刊中的文章表明，从历史分析角度转向宏观经济计量模型实践将丰富宏观经济学的历史。宏观经济学的历史不仅是一部思想史，还包括工具的历史，尤其是宏观经济计量模型的历史。这些模型从来不是由一个人建立的，而是需要多个团队的密切合作，每个团队都来自一个特定的学科，而他们的工作场所不一定位于大学。不同于理论，一种工具是为特定目的而设计和制造的，并有客户。这种将重点从宏观经济理论转移到宏观经济计量模型可能会更好地理解现代经济学的发展。