1. An economic power without a Nobel Prize winner in economics

16 years ago, Gao Hongye, a famous economist, told me about the role of western economics: Japan didn't win the Nobel Prize in Economics, but it became an economic power. What do you think is the use of western economics? To tell the truth, it is really strange that the Japanese, known as "economic animals", did not win the "Economic Zoology Award". As we all know, among the Nobel laureates in economics, some were awarded for summarizing several curves or theorems of the western economy, some for studying the economic history of the United States, and some even for studying the economies of developing countries, but none of them were awarded for studying the Japanese economy, especially no Japanese. What does this mean? Is Japan's economic model not important? I'm afraid I can't say that, because apart from the western model, the Japanese model should have the greatest influence. So Japanese people's scientific thinking ability is very poor? I'm afraid I can't say that, because the Japanese have not only Nobel Prize winners in physics and chemistry, but also winners in literature. There are probably two reasons why the Japanese can't occupy a place among dozens of Nobel laureates in economics: one reason is that Japan's economic model does not conform to the western economic concept, so it is excluded from mainstream economics; Another reason is that when the Japanese explain the Japanese economy in the language of western economics, they do not meet the standards of westerners, or many Japanese are not enthusiastic about this work. Regarding the first reason, we all know that Japan's economic model does not conform to the western economic concept, and there are even many places that are opposed. If the status of the Japanese model is recognized, it may be necessary to revise the "universality" of western economics, so everyone simply regards it as a special case or waits for it to die out. Compared with this, the second reason may be more convincing, that is, most Japanese have another understanding of economics, which makes them less enthusiastic about western standards. It can be said that Japan's economy is similar to that of sumo, which is not recognized by the International Olympic Committee, so it cannot enter the Olympic Games. After all, the Nobel Prize in Economics is a competition set by westerners, so Japanese economics is not recognized by westerners. But in any case, as long as the Japanese themselves like to watch sumo and entertain themselves; Similarly, as long as the Japanese themselves think their analytical methods are good and useful, they should continue to use them. 2. How do Japanese view western economics? Japan introduced a lot of western culture from Meiji Restoration. In economics, with the translation and introduction of a large number of western economic theoretical works, it has gradually formed its own school. The evolution of Japanese economic theory can be roughly divided into: before the defeat, Marxist economic theory was absolutely dominant, and even the word social science at that time was equivalent to Marxism; After the war, until the1960s, although Marxist economics was still the mainstream economics, with the introduction of modern western economics, especially the theory of economic growth, they went hand in hand. Since then, it has been a diversified pattern based on modern western economics and empirical analysis. At present, many Japanese economists over the age of 60 are still using Marx's theory, while young and middle-aged economists prefer modern western economics. There may also be utilitarian considerations here, because engaging in modern western economics can make young people with good mathematical skills stand out quickly without being limited by lack of experience. What role did western economics play in Japan's economic development? In this regard, the Japanese academic community has never had a generally recognized statement. However, with the success of Japan's economy after World War II, the confidence of the Japanese people to advocate their own views has greatly increased, making the statement that emphasizes Japan's particularity occupy the mainstream. In the book "The Spirit of Capitalism in Japan", Yamamoto Kaiping thinks: "Economics and management have no effect in Japan." Saeki Keyes, an economist at Kyoto University, even said in his book Desire and Capitalism: "It is certain that Japanese economists introduced American economics after the war and took American economics textbooks as handouts in the School of Economics. However, students who have listened to these courses forget what they have learned when they participate in business operations. It is precisely because of this that the Japanese production method has achieved great success. " This is somewhat exaggerated, because at least western concepts such as economics, statistics and accounting methods have been widely used in Japan. Besides, people who engage in western economics will certainly be unhappy when they hear this, just as teaching western economics is a waste of students' time and livelihood. The explanation for this phenomenon is generally as follows: although Japan introduced the capitalist system from western countries, it established a market economy system different from western countries; It is not the result of the application of western schools of economics, but a system that is inseparable from the tradition and thinking habits of the Japanese nation. Therefore, due to different economic systems, different economic and economic analysis methods are needed. Maruyama's views in the book Vision of Modern International Society are very representative. He believes that social science in modern times is to analyze the system of western European society. Without "Christian spirit" and "western European ego", modern science itself cannot be established; In particular, the "economic success" in Asia can not be explained in the framework of social science so far, and can only be explained by the non-economic factor of cultural particularity, which just shows that economics is a product based on a specific cultural background. I have a feeling that in China, there are many people who regard western economics as science. The only difference is which western school is regarded as science; In the eyes of the Japanese, western economics is only the product of western culture, and it is a special cultural phenomenon in itself. So, what is economics with Japanese characteristics? Of course, there is a lot of content. Here we only look at the characteristics of Japan through the economic analysis method of Japan. However, it needs to be clarified that saying "Japanese characteristics" does not mean that the Japanese have completely divorced from western economics and set up another system. On the contrary, there are many books introducing western economics in Japan, and there are many people engaged in western economics. Some Japanese are also well-known in the British and American economics circles. Of course, these people are generally good at mathematics, and some of them are from mathematics. But in general, most Japanese practices have Japanese characteristics. Japanese economic methodology 1. Ultra-practical economic view Japanese culture is a sub-civilization, and it needs mainstream civilization as the object of imitation to digest the things of mainstream civilization. After the Meiji Restoration, in order to seek the model of a modern country, the Japanese government sent delegations to Europe and the United States for inspection many times. On the basis of investigation and study by the delegation, the government decided to take different countries as examples in different fields. Among them, the education system is modeled after France, the telegraph and railway are modeled after Britain, universities are modeled after the United States, the constitution and civil law are modeled after Germany, and the criminal law is modeled after France, and so on. Moreover, although Japan introduced the western modern capitalist system, it never accepted the western values. As Michio Morishima pointed out: "Despite the success of the Japanese economy in the post-war period, the prospects for the prosperity and maturity of individualism and liberalism are still extremely remote". In fact, the Japanese don't have a theoretical system for reform, and they don't spend time arguing and engaging in various "local" or "foreign" systems as we do in China, and they have been trapped by theoretical problems for a long time. Generally speaking, the Japanese approach is to go directly to the scene to investigate the mainstream civilization, and then select and digest the useful parts according to their own needs. Therefore, physical argument is more important than theory. This is the same as before when Chinese civilization was introduced, except that Japanese people used more things from China than from the West in cultural thought. When the Japanese first translated the word "economy", they adopted the meaning of China's allusion "managing the world and helping the people", that is, governing the country and implementing measures to help the people. Of course, the purpose of economics is to cultivate one's morality, govern the country and level the world, and it emphasizes practice rather than theory. Westerners are often confused about some economic terms used by the Japanese. Marvin J.Wolf said in the book Japanese Conspiracy: "In the language used by Japanese businessmen, there are military terms like Japanese news reports everywhere." For example, the activities to achieve the goal are called "maneuver" (that is, the movement or mobilization of troops in strategy and tactics before and after the war), "attack" the market, "build a bridgehead" on the foreign coast, "flank assault", "surround", "repel" competitors, "trench defense" in difficult times and "win" in successful times. Of course, the biggest feature of Japanese society is as Mrs. Wu Jie said: Japan is a society without absolute justice. From the perspective of economics, western economic theory pursues absolute justice in a sense, but there is no universal absolute justice in Japanese tradition, so there is no universally applicable economic theory in Japanese eyes. Hiroshi Takeuchi, a famous Japanese economic critic, has a very representative view in the book Economics on the Road. He believes: "Economic principles, fiscal principles and economic policies are obviously different due to the differences between countries and societies. The universal economic principles we consider are likely to only apply to a certain corner of the earth." Therefore, the Japanese pay special attention to the exploration of universal principles. Another feature of Japanese economic outlook is their concern for human nature. Clark pointed out in the book Unique Japanese: Different from Western Society that "Japan is not a society of principle relations, but a society of interpersonal relations." This social difference will certainly be reflected in people's understanding of economic relations. In Japan, I often see that company employees like reading history books very much, and their enthusiasm far exceeds that of reading business books. Inayama Yoshihiro, former president of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations, who is known as the head of the financial sector, said: "Economics is different from natural science. It is human knowledge, and spiritual matters are the center, regardless of percentage. Figures and statistics are not the mainstream of the economy, but only the means of testing. " This view is consistent with that of Shibusawa Eiichi (1840- 193 1) in The Analects of Confucius and Abacus. Shibusawa Eiichi is known as the founder of modern Japanese capitalism, and his business philosophy of "Analects of Confucius plus abacus" represents the guiding principle of Japanese business. The Analects of Confucius refers to the Confucian moral concept, and the abacus represents a tool for profit. The former is the eternal center, and the latter is a tool, which can also be regarded as an advanced economic and technological means in the West. In addition, the Japanese observe economic phenomena from the perspective of emphasizing the real feelings on the spot. It can be said that localism is a basic principle and habit that runs through Japanese social, economic, political and even cultural fields. That is, find problems on the spot, analyze problems and solve problems. It is said that the management of Toyota is an example of realism. They have set up many proposal boxes in companies and factories, and created a system where everyone can put forward ideas and suggestions on problems at work. For another example, Tatsunosuke, the first post-war director of Japan's economic planning, came from the industrial world, and he formulated the national economic development plan according to the idea of operating enterprises. This localism is actually a continuation of the traditional Japanese way of thinking. It has two main characteristics: one is "respect for the place" mentioned by Sakamoto in the book "The Theoretical Structure of the Japanese", and the other is "true faith" summarized by Masao Maruyama in the book "Japanese Thought". From the economic point of view, this localism is a typical Japanese empirical method, which is not exactly the same as the empirical analysis method of western economics based on statistical analysis. To put it simply, Japanese economic analysis needs to look at the real thing with their eyes, while westerners pay more attention to the calculation and analysis of data. Why do Japanese people see things like this? Let's look at an interesting example first. There is a magazine called Nikkei Business in Japan. Twenty years ago, experts and scholars were organized to conduct a special topic on the century-old history of Japanese industry, discussing the law of the rise and fall of enterprises (see Life of Clubs compiled by Nikkei Business). They studied Japan's top 100 enterprises in a century and came to a conclusion that, contrary to Tolstoy's saying that "all happy families are similar, and each unhappy family has its own misfortune", for enterprises, "the reasons for success are varied, while frustrated and unfortunate enterprises are similar". In other words, there is no universal rule about the success of an enterprise, but there are many similarities between failed enterprises. Therefore, in their research on the secret of enterprise success, they all adopt the case analysis of enterprises. Speaking of this, it is impossible to force the Japanese to believe that there are "universal laws of human society" in the world, and it is even more impossible for the Japanese to devote themselves to exploring universal laws. This is probably what the Japanese understand as "social science". 2. The economic method of "Zen Flow" The Japanese don't worship the theories and methods of western economics like China. On the contrary, a method called real state analysis is quite popular and developing in Japan. Reality refers to the actual state of a specific object or problem, which exists in a certain time, place and occasion and has a specific interpersonal relationship. Realistic analysis is to grasp the essence of things through specific local examples. It means "see the world in a grain of sand". It should be noted that real-state analysis is not exactly the same as what we usually call case analysis. Real-state analysis emphasizes the researcher's real feelings and on-site feelings, and emphasizes collecting the materials he uses personally, while case analysis does not necessarily require the researcher to collect first-hand materials on the spot. It can be seen that Japan's economic analysis method ignores the pursuit of systematicness and universality, attaches importance to the particularity of things, and takes time, place and occasion as the shift. Do you think this economic analysis method is like Zen? The world in the eyes of Zen is also very specific, so we can only give different explanations for everyone's differences and even the actual state of everyone in different periods. Therefore, Zen has left many "solving cases" rather than universal principles. The so-called case-solving is actually a "private case" that varies from person to person, and it is a running account left by cases that record different personal states in past dynasties. Therefore, Zen without words, through the words of the cause of action, people get what they want. The real analysis is to understand and explain the world through the analysis of "cases", that is, to dissect sparrows to explain the world. So there are many "case studies". As for the state of the whole world, people need to have an overall understanding of the problem through "seeing". In my opinion, the true analysis in the hands of the Japanese is an extension of Zen thought in the humanities field and a "social science analysis method" of Zen. Of course, real analysis is a partial analysis method after all, and the world seen by a grain of sand must be one-sided. In order to overcome this one-sidedness, the most direct way is to select typical objects for field investigation, and then expand the scope of investigation as much as possible. However, whether we can find something universal depends on people's "understanding". This once again shows that the Japanese are not interested in the abstract system of metaphysics and are not good at it. Writer Yukio Mishima said in Reading Articles: "In Japan, because there is no unique abstract concept in Japan ... since ancient times, men have used foreign words to treat all abstract concepts ... Therefore, the concept itself lacks self-reliance, independence and clarity." In other words, what can move and inspire the Japanese mind most is not abstract concepts, but visible things. In the Japanese consciousness, there is a deep-rooted concept: "fact = detail". That is to say, people often say, "See only the trees, but not the forest", and the Japanese do have the habit of "denying the whole with parts". This is also the view that "the Japanese lack the thinking method of social science" in the book "The Structure of Crisis". Let's talk about another interesting phenomenon, because it is related to Mao Zedong Thought. Many Japanese highly admire Mao Zedong's methodology. An overseas student in China once told me that the first book his Japanese teacher asked him to read was Mao Zedong's On Contradiction and Practice. Another China classmate also told me that when he and his Japanese teacher visited an old Japanese man who worked in the countryside, his teacher warned him not to say anything disrespectful to Mao Zedong. To be honest, some aspects of Mao Zedong Thought do have a certain readership in Japan. In fact, Mao Zedong's famous Investigation Report on Hunan Peasant Movement adopted the empirical analysis method. In his later book Against Bookishness, Mao Zedong further put forward the famous conclusions that "there is no right to speak without investigation" and "investigation is to solve problems", and pointed out that "bookishness is also the most dangerous social science research method". Many Japanese scholars like to quote Mao Zedong's sentence "No investigation, no right to speak". In this way, investigation and research is not only a research method, but also involves the issue of discourse power, which is "discourse power" in popular terms. Because it involves power issues, of course, there will be rice bowls. In fact, the phrase "no investigation, no right to speak" requires at least one condition: decentralization. In other words, people who are on the scene or know the scene best have the most say, which may make the people above have no say. It's too difficult, especially if you stick to it and become a rule. Because, if we use the phrase "no investigation, no right to speak" to deal with students studying abroad, or to challenge theoretical authority, it is the best weapon, but under the centralized system, who dares to use this weapon? Is it still a weapon in the hands of ordinary people? Of course, there are still some differences between Japanese and Mao Zedong people. Mao Zedong pointed out in "The Position of the Chinese Productive Party in the National War": "Marxism must be combined with the specific characteristics of our country, and can only be realized through certain national forms". From the perspective of economic methodology, Mao Zedong's statement has three main characteristics, namely, adhering to the principle of universality, attaching importance to investigation and research, and respecting nationality. In this respect, the Japanese pay more attention to the latter two points. This is the difference between China and Japanese. In other words, Japan has a tradition of not pursuing "absolute justice", while China, as a big country with a history of 5,000 years of civilization, cannot give up the pursuit of justice and the universality of economic principles. Therefore, although China and Japan are both practical peoples in the East, their national characteristics are different and their economic research methods are different. The above is selected from Sakura and Samurai by Kong Xiangxu (Tongxin Publishing House, first edition in 2007, revised in 2009).