We are currently in the global economic crisis that bore an outstanding
resemblance to the Great Depression in the 1930s. As was noted by
Richard Posner, a famous scholar of law and economics, one of the biggest
puzzles about the failure to anticipate the crisis is the lack of foresight of so many academic economists. Presumably at the root of such
failure of the profession lies the fact that economists today have a tendency
to neglect the history of economic thought. It is high time for us to
learn a lot of new lessons from the old ohmi merchant, who once contributed
a great deal to the development of the Japanese economic and distribution system with their dedication, hard work, and high sense of balance. According to Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the Federal Reserve
Board, the current crisis may be regarded as one of those rare, once
in a century or half century events. He has added to note that after 9/11
we are living in a new world, the world of a global capitalist economy that is more open and fast-changing than ever before. It is true that his
opinion on the age of turbulence is of much interest, thus being worthy of
careful discussion. I do think, however, that he fails to offer us a conceptual
framework for analyzing the new global economy.
It is really a surprising fact that the current global economic crisis was not predicted, and still not fully understood by the public, the government
and the academia. In their new book, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller
claim that there have been no clear principles in conventional economic
theories regarding animal spirits. Although I have no serious objection
against their interesting argument, I believe that there remains a missing
gap that should be filled in for a solid framework for the new economic
theory. In my opinion, a new light should be shed on the working and
performance of the Ohmi merchant, whose dedication and spirits of fraternity
have greatly contributed to the economy, the society and the culture.
引用
彦根論叢, 第382号, pp. 109-138
The Hikone Ronso, No.382, pp. 109-138
グローバル経済危機と社会科学 : 近江商人に学ぶ（成瀬龍夫博士退職記念論文集）
382 sakai.pdf
(841.61KB)
