Washington Post, July 6, 2009 on page A5:" Paul Krugman has argued for more public spending" Cf." Economics in the Public Interest" by Richard T. Gill of Harvard University in 1980.4th Edition with citation of the same rationale. Cf."Keys for Economic Understanding" and blogs in the past for the same reasoning. Comparisons are the best bet for learning processes.
On page A15: Robert J. Samuelson wrote:"Economists Out to Lunch" in the light vein.
Niall Ferguson is a respected scholar who is also a successful popularizer. He is British and has taught at Oxford and New York University and is now at Harvard.
"Economists tend to focus directly on the spending of consumers,businesses and government." I sent my blog with C+I+G+F as Aggregate Demand in Macroeconomics for reader's reference.
The mathematical models are departing radically from reality that the conclusions become useless. I sent the same thought in my blog dated July 5, 2009.
His conclusion: Markets became more complex; more money crossed national borders; people became complacent. History moved on, but economists didn't." We are living in the age of electronics with high tech. but human beings are still human with frailties.
I would envision Philosophy to be the ultimate goal for seeking the answers apropos of human behavior to economics. Moreover,Ph.D. is Doctor of Philosophy in most disciplines. The thoughts of Adam Smith and Confucius/Mencius may be the Model from empirical evidence of China's economic achievement in the 21st century.
Confucianism is a philosophy than a religion. "Rujia Sixiang" in Pin Yin for "Boxue de Kongfuzi" i.e. The Erudite Confucian School of Thoughts. "Boxue " in Pin Yin means a scholar with comprehensive knowledge ="Boshi" in Pin Yin is equivalent to a holder of a doctorate.
The glorification of Confucius began after his death. Mencius (372-289 BC), or Menzi in Pin Yin,helped raise Confucian ideals into the national consciousness with the publication of "The Book of Mencius." Search "Philosophy of Mencius"(1950) at www.loc.gov Library of Congress online catalog for reference.
Eventually, Confucian philosophy permeated every level of Chinese society including spoken proverbs trickled down to the folks in China even to Korea,Japan that I visited in 1980s and in Singapore,Malaysia and Thailand in 1990s. The languages are different but the ideas and ideals of ethics and morality are the same to be the universal value for leaders to pursue the economic goal for a good society.
Needless to say,"Dao de Jing" by Laozi to show The Way & Its Power. Zhuangzi, who lived between 399 BC and 295 BC picked up where Laozi left off. The Book of Zhuanzi is still required reading for anyone trying to make sense of Daoism. Both Laozi and Zhuangzi are philosophers that I studied in the university in China in early 1940s.
Paul Krugman is seeking an innovative theory or model to solve economic problems. Perhaps it is high time to introduce Confucianism in terms of trying to resolve global economic crisis via the philosophy of Chinese moral leaders to serve the best interest of a society instead of personal gains and greed of some as known in the headlines.
Francis Shieh a.k.a. Xie Shihao, a lifelong student of economic philosophy since early 1940 to date for six decades Plus. July 6, 2009 at 11 a.m.
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