Chen Zhiwu, a market economy leads to personal freedom of the road cast

 Chen Zhiwu: market economy, individual freedom of the road leading cast
Zhiwu
Economic Observer May 3, 2010
market economy in the past few decades has created enormous social wealth, but also created a brilliant spiritual civilization. about how to market and government to discuss the division of labor has never stopped. The economic crisis faced by the free market economy more questions, abuses amplified in a crisis. So, what should we not be limited to the immediate from a deeper process of human civilization to consider the market and commercial development in order to clearly see the After the global crisis at home and abroad are in the market economy, for business or commercial civilization, some reflection. The reflection itself is very healthy, have a different reflection, give us new opportunities to re-recognize the human, understanding of different social arrangements the merits, value judgments, but also gives us the opportunity to look again at China and other societies in the past, present and future.
everyone today market economy, market-oriented reforms, the new classical economics, or neo-liberal economics mainstream ideas, it seems more negative view. of course in human history, including in the past century, this is not the first time, and can not be the last of the human society's suspicion of the market economy, as a group of human beings is such animals, it is easy to not pay attention to little things and experiences to be quarter past one confused by the experience of the past even longer, drawn from a longer history of more prolonged in the general sense to forget them.
, for example, on market and government allocation of resources in the economic division of labor, 30 years in the 20th century, two camps have Ge discussion, that the free market during the economic crisis in a high state, while the socialist planned economy is in rapid development, therefore, to discuss to discuss go, no matter what kind of arrangement is more consistent with human nature in terms of logic, the motivation is more consistent with human nature, that the actual performance difference mm although hindsight is based on the results of comparative mm short time so that the world was generally agreed that based on administrative Soviet model of power in allocating resources better, more conducive to economic growth. So, in that the conclusions based on sex under the spur of the moment, after World War II, from Eastern Europe to Asia, Africa, Latin America and even Western Europe, North America, in varying degrees on the imitation of the Soviet planned economy, or that the government regulate the economy, the government owned and operated business model.
to 1970 years ago, the world has a state-owned enterprises, but to the era of the late 20th century, 70 countries have comprehensive loss for the state-owned enterprises , and more heavy losses, forcing people to reflect on government-run economy, regulate the economy mode. those losses and reflection for the subsequent worldwide large-scale privatization, re-laid the foundation for market-oriented reform. It has 1978 Deng Xiaoping's reform and opening up of China in 1980 after Reagan, wife of British Saqi Er privatization, then privatization of Russia and Eastern Europe, etc., on the nationalization after World War II and economic administration of the reversal. Of course, the crisis after impact, the Chinese people once again saw the difference with the performance of the private market economy, so people ask: Is it also the economy over the past 30 years , to quarter past one of the short-term experience to draw general conclusions. are derived from the principal-agent chain, the benefits of the inevitable distortions, then the market can not be eliminated by the government instead of the financial crisis and the economic crisis, because the system of government power contained in the agency chain with the main mm than the market's principal-agent problem is that there have been the no less. Therefore, the chain is too long to solve the modern market transactions brought to the crisis, not by the government to replace the market more, because the democratic rule of law, including the United States, the power system for the government agency issues contained in the regulation mechanism are far less regulation in the principal-agent problems the company is more reliable mechanism, which, after all, the majority of market participants can rely on the pressure to solve, not to mention the issue of checks and balances in other countries have not solved.
but Today, I still hope to interpret the market from another angle the economic, commercial development on the contribution of human society, that is, market development is how to freedom That is, the process of allocation of resources, economic and non-economic functions
in China, in human history, full control over the economy by the government the power short history, after all, is the modern thing, at least not the main theme of human history. that is, from a longer view of human history, market development, and commercial civilization is the first or more important, relative to restrict individual freedom, repression of human nature in terms of the traditional social system. This is because the power of modern government in the modern market-driven allocation of resources before the human society allocation of resources is neither executive power nor community organizations to complete the market, including home, family, clan, church, temple, community-eup, associations and so on. commercial development of the market mature, the market system not only replaces the traditional societies better realize the benefits of interpersonal exchange, but also to liberate the people. In other words, we should progress of human civilization from a deeper perspective to think about the market, commercial development, to see the forest, but not limited to the immediate trees.
very familiar to our pop songs for decades, has been widely welcomed, as it represents the traditional Chinese marriage, the family's highest level. If so, we take a look at Chinese people always look forward to What is included? of any person's life, nothing more than marriage and family is more important and more sweets and bitters of his life. Like such a fundamental cornerstone of life, developed or underdeveloped market of how to impact of? our core philosophy of life, how is it subject to market hair developed?
song a beginning, the contents of the set. Next, complementarity of economic production and mutual aid body. engagement supported by family, so that the division of labor with confidence, not the basis of breach of contract because, although no two people can be carried out between the labor division of labor, but not necessarily guarantee a smooth co-operation basis of trust, in order to strengthen trust, two people, marriage is a two way, even the most important way of traditional society. is the production of the sense of a family alliance, to ensure the advantages of each other's work can be reliably play, so that high output, low output uncertainty.
the next sentence, However, a deeper meaning, home security is a mutual insurance system, is a member of the risks of trading across time and space between the body, as if an internal financial market. With such an unconditional alliance and mutual assistance, no matter what happens next, is the wind or rain, is sick, natural disasters or old, are not afraid! This alliance enhances the risk of resistance to each other, the ability to respond to unexpected events, namely, the economic risk of trading functions at home.
sweet comfort support so hard it can become sweet.
each other, this risk, so that two people in the world of mental and emotional love each other, then the two of them will be able to fly all over the world, in the material and spiritual, where not afraid!
other words, marriage ; home slowly rise, both husband and wife around the house also hours together, and also mainly with the parents and their children, eat, sleep together, work together to produce. However, with the development of industrialization, more and more people leave the rural areas, agriculture into the factory and the city, engaged in non- farmers. Then, the ; restaurant, the couple still can not work together, life? but now more and more companies of the commercial areas, stores the company of, such as the United States, Carrefour, Wal-Mart and other companies have made many traditional grocery stores out of business, South Beauty , Yonghe King, McDonald's, Starbucks and other chain restaurants the company put a lot of between husband and wife spend time together, there are parents, family time with their children, will change dramatically. As mentioned above, in accordance with the eat, sleep together, work together. If we do a simple study, compared to 1000 years ago, 200 years ago, 50 years ago and is now generally husband and wife spend together each year the number of hours to see how the changes in this indicator. the original without industrialization, the family as a production unit, the couple may have a daily 20 to 22 hours together. Of course, that the opportunity may be tired of each other a lot, but from another angle, couples and family feeling and also a high degree of close relationship between . always together, it is difficult not to know each other.
Now industrialization, urbanization, corporatization, more and more couples together, even if there is no way to. In Beijing, most of the morning six or seven couples points up, quickly finished breakfast to you to your unit, I went to my company, and then eight or nine at night before returning home. Therefore, we will find that couples spend together, the number of hours each year in over a century, especially in the past 30 years, the rapid decline. From this point of view to understand that China's sense of Perhaps not the nature of the production units, and less, the feelings between husband and wife may actually deeper than before, because the original is not worth 24 hours a day with the treasure, now with less time, but to make each other how to think in the end to new ways to strengthen their marriage and family. In short, industrialization and the development of the company in the change of traditional marriage and family. today's br> When the market trading tools were developed to force
, the traditional business more complicated.
research data we look at a group of .2008, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Professor Fan Bohong with his two colleagues did a study object 150 is Thailand's largest family business, look at these families corporate head of children and relatives who marry. They were collected from 1991 to 2006, 16 years of marriage in the 200 samples, and these marriages were divided into three categories: the first is a political marriage, child marriage, family business object government officials children; the second category is a commercial alliance, the object is also the children of family business; third category is neither the power factor, there is no commercial purpose, but to love-based marriage. the total sample, the 33% of the family corporate marriage is a political marriage of their children, business marriage was 46.5% frequency of occurrence, these two together, 79.5% of the total sample, nearly 80%, only 20% of marriages is due to love. Interestingly, when the family children of the marriage business object to the announcement, if it is love marriage, then the family firm's stock market did not respond, and if the object is a marriage officer or the children of other family business, then the price will go up a lot.
Obviously, the family business is not child's freedom of marriage, marriage is not the result of love, but to the family business interests to talk to other business consortia, government officials, family, marriage, because marriage to expand the family business of trading opportunities and resources for space, reducing a marriage relationship between family business transaction costs. In fact, the stock market hope to do business head of the family.
Why in Thailand, Hong Kong and Taiwan and other Asian countries and regions are often the children of the marriage business tool, and in the United States This phenomenon has been little community? Asian societies are there other options?
answer lies in the level of development of the market, more specifically, depending on market transactions, credit environment, that the market system architecture, as well as resources, equality of opportunity is open . If everyone equal opportunity to all industries and opening up, businesses and government power to decrease the need for marriage, children, freedom of marriage and thus also the liberation; if the market is a strange business transactions on the credit not a problem, then, between businesses They do not need to strengthen the family through the marriage of the credit relationship between enterprises. business marriage, the political marriage is not in place outside the rule of law, the credit mechanism is also largely dependent on blood product of a traditional society, is the performance of developed markets.
To further illustrate this that we take a look at what the industry is more inclined to use family business and political alliance, commercial alliance. First, they found Professor Fan, need government approval to enter the industry, family businesses that 93% of the marriage of their children is a political marriage, business marriage, especially in the family business of real estate and construction industry, 96% of their children to commercial interests to marriage, much less government control than the relationship between industry, the frequency of marriage. On the contrary, is a high degree of market-oriented industries, love, marriage, family business proportion of children is also high. for the Chinese people, which is not surprising, because we have become accustomed to this tradition, by marriage to the family business interests protected, so that their own property from the threat of government power, The marriage occurred with the strength of the corporate family, you can expand the prospects for future development. marriage occurred because of interest, people become carriers of specific transactions.
In contrast, in the United States today, Gates Ye Hao, Ye Hao Buffett , head of family businesses do not require their daughters to marry for family interests. Western society with the previously mentioned here, similar to Thailand and China, however, with the deepening of the market development of contractual mechanisms, reduction of government regulation, entrepreneurs marriage of their children were gradually liberated. the development of market trading mechanisms to reduce government control, not only more equitable trade and reduce transaction costs between strangers, and decided to private enterprises, family businesses whether the children of free love in the end, free to marry. Market is so specific to the individual the right to freedom back.
friends say, to the interests of the family, sacrificed his marriage What is the relationship? a lifetime of happiness for the people, what is most important and decisive? is marriage, which decide who to live your life, with whom children born. In particular, when the marriage is made because of family benefits, the future is almost no possibility of divorce, you can not say did not marry for love.
When interpersonal transaction is not in the market, but in personified form occurs, people become tools, human values determined by their instrumental value. We can look at the family business in Japan Inheritance of habit. In China, we say relationships outside the family who took over the business, he could very capable, but may not rely on the letter, however, principal-agent problem may be serious. However, nature of the decision.
We know that in the past more than a century, Western society developed a market of professional managers, so that the family not only in the children of founders, find successors, not favoritism, but through the contractual relationship and match the rule of law framework, to the wide community to recruit, meritocratic can. In this way, the children of the founder companies of interest to their own free choice of employment, and will not except the father have no other choice than enterprises, but the success of the cause of his father loss of freedom.
However, the U.S. market development of professional managers or something modern, in its prior to deduce the other community had to solve business problems workarounds heritage. In Japan, Mitsui Group Mitsui Gao, founder of a sentence saying, Enterprises of succession, so that his son is not necessarily a successor, business head of his son and the company will have the ability to pick a young middle; if he chooses not natural son, let his daughter marry the selected first young people, and other daughter married a year later, another ceremony, the son surname Mitsui, Mitsui home by the son as the adopted son of an oath, and Mitsui will be to the benefit of the family to make the greatest efforts. After the family company from ;-law adopted son founders of the parent-child, like the Chinese family business as; second head is outside the enterprise hired professional managers; third category is the son adopted son Japan, the Matsushita Group's head of Matsushita Masaharu Matsushita from the blood is not really the person on the Mitsui Group from 1673 to the present there are several head of family is not Mitsui, Toyota is true.
solve the problem of corporate heritage, through the ceremony the son received as a foster child, to reaction is: that the happiness of his daughter how to do it? she said, this is too cruel and unacceptable, because the interests of her family business to be as a tool, to sacrifice their own well-being of a lifetime!
when the professional managers the market developed, or that the market system is not perfect when children will be forced to make tools, they are happy to be sacrificed.
today in China, many intellectuals of the economists dissatisfied because they that economists are too obsessed with the market, that market is not omnipotent mm market is certainly not universal, world without universal things. But, from above these specific examples and data, we see that when to focus on specific human activities and traditional practices, the details of all aspects of the market from a variety of tools is the use of personal liberation. Therefore, the market, the company of not a bad thing, on the contrary, a free market economy, to human beings.
financial markets, specifically the liberation of Personal
discussed above, market-oriented commercial development has been changing the home discussion of .
reason why almost all traditional societies in the down, into the project, to wait until sometime in the future to return, such an action would involve cross of credit issues: How can people be assured that is willing to invest? admit its fault or breach of contract in the future other people lie, how to do? Therefore, based on it to realize the value of intertemporal allocation comes as natural.
fact, around the production units, inter-company arrangements of interest, but many potential cross-configuration of the value of a form of transaction, you can also have Many other species, like pensions, insurance, loans, securities investment, etc., which does not involve the production, industrial investment, but more simply to focus on value, risk of cross-transactions. The former is to solve the problem of human material production, The latter is to address the individual's future economic security.
to prevent the old, old age, for example, young people generally save more and invest more, the old can not make money after retirement from the original investment to pay off to old age. This is very typical of the value of the configuration requires cross, or cross the most primitive species of the risk transaction. Speaking in front of this cross-default on high risk transactions, investment and nothing reported in the situation is very likely to occur Therefore, there is said before also is the son of prime time, just for old-age son's return with. This is what we are familiar with the personification of three other trading systems, one is based on the religious temples and churches, Civil Associations, etc.; the other is the familiar impersonal financial markets, such as pension funds, investment funds, life annuities; there is the emergence of modern the government pension system.
trading system has a set of matching each cultural system, with its establishment, to preserve and strengthen the basis of trade credit. I said before, based on the because its foundation is the blood and marriage, and were born before the blood relationship is not a choice, the son of the relationship with the natural parents, so the most reliable. Moreover, by addition to a similar set of Confucian ; such a rigid cultural system, to each person's position in society in accordance with the particular sub-grade fixed, constrained its code of conduct, so that you could not move, the social structure is not room for free movement, so the whole community based on kinship system intertemporal exchange of value, illness, old age and other support, there is considerable reliability, and transaction risk on the meaning of existence is not much.
cross-community organizations based on mutual aid system, nor is the price tag way Doing cross-exchange of interests, the establishment and maintenance of credit, guarantees , together with visible and invisible church, and so arranged, so that the cohesion of this system is very strong, nearly two thousand years is not bad. The Christian church from time to time to provide financial services category, for example, before the financial development in the modern Middle Ages, the Church allowed Zhuang couple of the real estate, real estate previously contracted, committed couples after the death of ownership of the property to the church, but the rest of their lives, the church give them life, financial support, in effect, this arrangement is equivalent to the modern Life insurance companies sell annuities.
in Chinese history, beyond blood relative underdevelopment of social mutual aid organizations, there are more documented in the Tang Dynasty from Dunhuang social eup, social mutual help, as women Yi, weddings and funerals community eup, and so on. Song of the cemetery or in blood clan-based. to the Ming and Qing dynasties, a little more. For example, Guangdong and other southern regions of the a relationship, but mainly for teenage women to choose not to provide a lifetime of married life support system, so that self-thinning choose not to marry teenage girls can be moved into live, work, after all the labor income are all great aunt house, feed the other older, sick of the self-thinning women, but, until today, the self-thinning into the old woman herself, the future of the young women to give them self-thinning to protect. In this way, generation after generation of self-thinning among women can achieve mutual support, but the exchange of value between them is cross-time, housing became a great aunt to complete specific community organizations such financial exchange, in essence similar to the family do not have much choice other than the mutual trust body.
third of the trading arrangements across the financial markets is, its scope is broad community of people, clearly the price trading products, its trading organization is not based on blood, not religious or other beliefs, but the pursuit of dominance for each participant to maximize profits. Because of this, it is difficult to establish the credit support system, missed appointments, default will always occur, it requires a fair, just and transparent rule of law in contracts support system, which is supporting the rule of law and its culture.
trading arrangements of the fourth inter-governmental social security system, to support the credit guarantee system this arrangement is the country's coercive power, the legislative, executive and judicial. Because of this trading system of the organization is not based on kinship, common religion or profit maximization, but on government power, therefore, the corruption of space and therefore the transaction costs on society will be high. planned economy, the lessons of welfare state proof of this.
Now that we can rely on blood family system, and can rely on community-based religious organization, or based on a common ambition to establish a non-blood community organizations, can rely on government power, you can also rely on the market to achieve between people of the value of cross-trading, then, in the end what arrangements better and better? Why do some arrangements will be worse? is because the requirements of each of the arrangements supporting the social and cultural support, it brings the nature of civilization are also different. based on the arrangements for the financial markets brought about by the commercial civilization, culture and rule of law, contract, and the authority of government based on the value of the configuration of interpersonal cross-training is the official standard system of culture, is to curb the powers of civilization, of individual rights. Like experienced by the West in the Middle Ages as the church-based inter-exchange system will be of interest to suppress individual freedom, the right to choose to suppress personal beliefs.
a lot of people say that, since the Confucian family can also do financial markets today, the economic security, why market reform and financial market development? question is, through the complete when the person's customs and norms, will have to sacrifice human dignity.
example, repudiation. in China, today has no legal repudiation, but, at least from the Han Dynasty began, one of the seven reasons to be legitimate to his wife divorced, and this is very unfair to Ms..
Tang, economic security, the wife must be able to son, or the whole family to the future security of their elders without protection. the so-called , three no matter Jiugu, four tongue, five of theft, six jealousy, seven vicious disease. seven reasons, there are five with the concubine, how to marry more wives? In fact, when a society can only rely on their children to pension, hedge, then the system of polygamy is inevitable, because under the system of monogamy, the wife may be unable to bear children, or even womb, and can only daughter; or even to a son, also have only one or two, in the past with high infant mortality rate in society, health is not enough to secure one or two sons. Therefore, there is a repudiation of the legal and tradition.
in human history, polygamy has been adopted by most of society, perhaps truth is here, as financial markets only to the modern West was developed. I recently saw an anthropological study, this study is based on the earth today are still 849 different social survey, here is the cultural significance of the social rather than political sense on the community. They found, in which 708 community today or polygamy, monogamy 137 social system, which involves China, only 4 community precisely, in turn, is polyandry.
this study found is not surprising, in fact, in a hundred years ago, the implementation of monogamy community may be less than 100. in the match did not keep up with the financial markets, there is no social security system provided by the Government before, when the blood of the Religion-based social mutual aid system is not very extensive, even though from a desire to end on Kazuo polygamy, but also ...