@article{oai:shiga-u.repo.nii.ac.jp:00008112, author = {酒井, 泰弘}, issue = {第382号}, journal = {彦根論叢}, month = {Jan}, note = {Departmental Bulletin Paper, 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., 彦根論叢, 第382号, pp. 109-138, The Hikone Ronso, No.382, pp. 109-138}, pages = {109--138}, title = {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)}, year = {2010} }