Big research goals in economics? Are there any big, overarching research goals in economics?
Examples from other fields that come to my mind:


Mathematics: Millenium problems, Hilbert's problems, Collatz conjecture, ...
Computer science: Proof of P =?= NP, quest for an exascale system
Biology / Medicine: Cure disease, cancer, stop ageing


Probably, economics as a (social) science is inherently not the right field for such grandiose goals, but is there anything comparable?
Yes there are. Two big ones are:


Why are some nations rich and why are some nations poor?
What are the causes of large scale involuntary unemployment of resources and individuals (I.e. a depression).