博客由于网路连结的散播速度如同病毒般神速，大大地提高能见度，吸引众多经济学者争相投入这新兴媒介。

投资大众藉由研究报告、出版品及电视媒体，拥有得以一窥优秀经济思想家堂奥的管道已行之有年。

现在，这些资讯窗口才真正称得上门户大开：一些经济学家─包括来自于各大学及联邦储备局的顶尖名号─正开始大写网志，成为博客一族，将他们对于各种议题，包括油价上涨及利率未来走向的想法放在网路上。

当不少投资人仍从传统的途径获得经济前景的各类蛛丝马迹之际，真正的嗜新闻成瘾者─包括一些要在还没从交易经纪商那儿听到前，就要捷足先登获得交易消息的人─早就把各类形形色色的博客，加到我的最爱。即便是华尔街的交易员，也悄悄地开始留意博客上的资讯。

“这就是我们所说的“弥学”（memetics）”，纽约券商FIMAT U SA利率策略部门研究主管琼纳斯如此说到。弥学一词乃用以描述透过口而耳相传、或是网路让观念快速蔓延的无形传播方式。“这些博客一族在网路上说三道四之后，不到一周或两周，华尔街这帮好家伙们就会挪为己用”。

琼纳斯曾一度认为这些博客一族都是离经叛道的古怪之辈。然而，大约在一年前，他无意之中在茫茫网海中发现诸如诺贝尔经济学奖得主贝克，及其法学院昔日同窗波斯纳的名字，让其对博客的看法一夕翻转。现在琼纳斯每天要浏览三十个博客，他目前的最爱是E conbrowser(www. econbrowser.com)，其由加州大学圣地牙哥分校的经济学教授汉弥尔顿执笔，他同时是一位备受推崇的油价观察家。

博客由于提供为数众多与其他网站上传品的快速连结，所以在某个地方萌芽的思想，能在滑鼠的弹指之间以迅雷不及掩耳之姿散播到其他网站。投资人因此获得多样化的观点与想法，博客一族则获得抛头露面的机会。

“这种网路连结的散播速度如同病毒一样神速”，这位在一年前开始拥有自己的博客：Marcoblog (Marcoblog.typepad.com)的联邦储备银行经济学家暨联席董事阿提哥指出，“我可以连结到一些正开始阅读的知名人士，而他们迟早也会连结到我的网页，所以我的能见度变得很高。”

能见度乃得以解释为什么如此多的经济学家，如同其他的博客一族，转身投入这个能让他们的发声更准确地被听到的媒介之主要理由。

达特茅斯大学的经济学教授，亦因Vox Baby(voxbaby.blogspot.c om)为人知晓的山维克就说，“现在没有人会要求我写专栏，而且几乎我之前想去出版读者投书的意图也一并打消了”。现在他终于完全的自主了，还有他的读者也是。

当前每日浏览人数居首的几大博客，仍旧是以阐述政治议题为主。但经济学家显然正急起直追，博客元老、加州大学柏克莱分校经济学教授迪龙 (www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type )，及纽约投资银行MaximGroup的首席市场策略师里托茨，这位The Big Pict ure(bigpicture.typepad.com)博客的幕后藏镜人，根据追踪博客浏览量的www.truthlaidbear.com 统计显示，两者皆已荣登一百大博客。左倾的政治博客Dailykos.com则仍牢牢雄倨王座。

大部分经济学的博客都带有偏见，有的甚至读起来根本就像是泼妇骂街。但此媒介确实让那些被传统传媒圈子淹没的人有再次发声的机会。与此同时，也有愈来愈多正经八百的博客，持续赋予此新兴媒介正当性。

汉弥尔顿不过在今夏才开创Econbrowser，但比起其同侪，他的论点不但更广为流传，也拥有更多人来评价其经济分析及固定的上传文章。“我开办这个博客的部分原因是追踪原油市场是我毕生志业”。

博客一族也因为与读者的接触而获益良多。奥勒冈大学经济学副教授汤玛说，“我已经开始接触读者，这是我以前所未曾尝试的”。他同时是中间偏右的民主党人，及economistview.typepad.com的作者。

网路空间的批评者主张这些志同道合博客的串连，有损于真正意见辩论的发生。没有错，为数不少的经济学家批上政治色彩的外衣，但这在其他传播媒介早已屡见不鲜。一旦卷入其中，要经济学家再脱离网路显然是缘木求鱼。大部分的人藉由上网来伸展视野，无论如何，经济学家已利用线路连结从事许多工作。

纽约大学史坦商学院副教授罗宾尼说，“我已经由五年没有踏进图书馆的大门”，他同时是有关各类经济研究及博客一网打尽的网站：罗宾尼全球经济观测站(www.stern.nyu.edu/globalmarco)的创立者。

Economists Join Blogging Frontier

Web Provides Visibility
And Voice to Spread Ideas;
A Federal Reserve Blogger

For years investors have had pretty good access to the finest economic thinkers, via research reports and print and television media.

Now the floodgates are really open: The economists -- including prominent names from universities and even the Federal Reserve -- have started blogging, posting their thoughts on the Web on a variety of things, including the rise in oil prices and the future of interest rates.

While many investors continue to take their cues from traditional outlets, the real news junkies -- including those who aim to get a trading idea before they hear about it from their broker -- have bookmarked the blogs, or Web logs. Even Wall Street itself is paying heed.

"It's all about the 'memes,' " says Stan Jonas, head of interest rate strategy at Fimat USA in New York, employing a word that describes ideas that spread quickly by word of mouth -- or Web. "Those guys say it and about a week or two later, the guys on Wall Street pick it up."

Mr. Jonas once thought all the bloggers were "wacko." About a year ago, however, he came across one by Nobel Prize winning economist Gary Becker of the University of Chicago and his colleague at the School of Law, Richard Posner. Now Mr. Jonas reads as many as 30 blogs a day. A current favorite is Econbrowser (www.econbrowser.com1), penned by James Hamilton, a professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, and a well-respected oil watcher.

Because bloggers provide a multitude of quick-links to other online postings, a thought developed in one place can quickly jump to other sites at the click of a mouse. Investors get a variety of views and ideas -- and the bloggers get exposure.

"This linking business is like a virus," says David Altig, economist and associate director of research at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland who launched his site, Macroblog (macroblog.typepad.com2), a year ago. "I linked to somebody who started reading. Somewhere down the line, he linked to me. Then I became very visible."

Visibility is what counts for many of these economists who, like other bloggers, have turned to this medium precisely to get their voices heard.

"Nobody was asking me to write a column, and almost all previous attempts to even publish op-eds were denied," says Andrew Samwick, professor of economics at Dartmouth College, also known as Vox Baby (voxbaby.blogspot.com3) Now he has total autonomy -- and readers.

The top blogs in terms of the number of daily visits, still belong to those writing about politics. But the economists are making headway. Longtime blogger Brad DeLong (www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type4), a professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley and Barry Ritholtz, chief market strategist at the Maxim Group and the man behind The Big Picture (bigpicture.typepad.com5), have cracked the top 100, according to Web site www.truthlaidbear.com6, which tracks blog traffic. Dailykos.com7, a left-leaning political blog, is still No. 1.

Most economics blogs have a bias. Some even read like rants. But the medium has given voice to those that have been drowned out by established venues. And that means trading ideas. The more sober blogs, meanwhile, lend legitimacy to the medium.

Mr. Hamilton only began Econbrowser this summer, but he's already much read by his peers, and others value his analysis and frequent posts. "I did it in part because all my career I've been following oil markets," he says.

Bloggers themselves also benefit from the contact with readers.

"On a professional level, I've been making contacts that I would have never made before," says Mark Thoma, associate professor of economics at the University of Oregon, Eugene. Mr. Thoma is also a self-described left-of-center Democrat and author of economistsview.typepad.com8.

Critics of cyberspace contend that like-minded blogs band together and actually undermine debate. To be sure, many economists wear their politics on their sleeves, but that's true in other mediums too, including, of course, print.

Having arrived, it's unlikely economists will be departing the Web anytime soon. Most everyone they want to reach surfs the Internet. And the economists do a lot of their work online anyway.

"I haven't stepped foot in a library in five years," says Nouriel Roubini, associate professor of economics at New York University's Stern School of Business and founder of the site Roubini Global Economics Monitor (www.stern.nyu.edu/globalmacro9), a one-stop Web site of economics research and blogs.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB...9510501,00.html

Hyperlinks in this Article:
(1) http://www.econbrowser.com
(2) http://macroblog.typepad.com
(3) http://voxbaby.blogspot.com
(4) http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/movable_type
(5) http://bigpicture.typepad.com
(6) http://www.truthlaidbear.com
(7) http://Dailykos.com
(8) http://economistsview.typepad.com
(9) http://www.stern.nyu.edu/globalmacro