The strong statements by both Mr. Zhu and Mr. Sheng were surprising, since economists both in and outside of China recently observed that the Government had slowed the restructuring of state industries, instead pumping money into them to stimulate economic growth.

The development of the theory of the natural rate of unemployment came in the 1960s where economists observed that the Phillips-curve relationship between inflation and unemployment began to break down.

"The idea is to help the poor without threatening the basic power structure," a Central American economist observes.

Local economists like Thomas J. Spitznas in Mount Vernon observed that the recent economic boom has mostly benefited the wealthy, as indicated by the fact that most new housing is at the high end.

In the 1940s and 1950s, as governments began accumulating national income and product accounting data, economists set out to construct quantitative models to describe the dynamics observed in the data.

The mixed picture here coincides with what many economists are observing.

"He got into a position of power not at a helpless moment," observes the economist Henry Kaufman, but rather at the beginning of an economic expansion when economic management can be effective.

The report, issued by the Census Bureau, followed a trend that economists have observed for months: even as growth slows in the United States, expanding economies abroad are creating a need for American exports.

"A highly ethical consumer or a novice computer user will have a very high cost of pirating," the economists observe, "whereas a consumer who does not see piracy as stealing or an expert computer user will have a much lower 'pirating cost."

When an economist observes an exchange, two important value functions are revealed: those of the buyer and seller.