두 일본의 정치경제학

Japan, the System That Soured (Paperback)
Richard Katz / M E Sharpe Inc / 1998년 5월

세계의 병자로 불리던 헤이세이 불황 시절 일본에 대한 논의를 결산하는 책이라 할 수 있다. 왜 10년이 넘도록 문제를 해결하지 못하는가? 그 해답은 거의 대부분 정치경제에서 찾는다. 이에 관해선 Pempel의 Regime SHift에서 정치학적 접근을 하고 있다면 이 책에선 경제적면을 더 부각시키면서 효율적인 수출부문과 비효율적인 내수부문이란 두개의 일본을 조화시키던 정치경제 시스템이 불황의 원인이자 지속된 이유라고 설명한다. 더 자세한 것은 내가 영어로 쓴 아래 리뷰를 보라

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다 

Over more than a decade, Japan has baffled not only its citizens but also foreigners with its inability to sort the mess out. They call it the Heisei depression. What¡¯s the problem of Japan? It¡¯s been a daunting question. There have been numerous explanations. Those could be grouped into three camps in my view:
1. the problem is the financial macroeconomics not the fundamental disease of Japanese economy. Once the bad loans are cleared up, Japanese economy would be on the right track as before. (Posen at IIE: Cargill and his colleagues)
2. Japan is on the bad point at its long-term cycle. Each economy has its own long-term cycle of investment, determined by the level of sunk capital. In this view, ascendance of Japan and Germany over the States in ¡®70s and 80s could be attributed to this dynamic of cycle. In other words, the US was in a bad point at the time. Now Japan is on its own bad point. (Robert Brenner)
3. Depression or liquidity trap must be serious problems. But those are not the cause but the symptom of deep-seated malady. So-called Japanese miracle was propelled socioeconomic regime of ¡¯55 system, in Pempel¡¯s words. It was the key to Japan¡¯s epic story. But now it¡¯s the curse to Japanese economy. The vested interests of the regime¡¯s alliance, or iron triangle, has hamstrung the overall competitiveness of economy. (Pempel, Tilton, Porter, Bai Gao, Brookings Institute, OECD, and The Economist)
Richard Katz is on the side of the third camp. His argument is like this: Infamous industrial policy fostered various industries with policy pair of promotion/protection. But not all sectors succeeded in world market. Those sectors should be liquidated to free resources up to competitive sectors in the view of rational policy makers. But such massive exit or restructuring is not of political rationale. The first oil shock exacerbated things around exit options. Such an attempt would be political suicide. So Japanese government prop them up. But uncompetitive sectors have taxed out competitive sectors and consumers with artificially high prices far above international market prices. It has resulted in weakening competitiveness and aggregate demand in economy-wide. To make up for weak domestic demand, export-drive set in motion. Up to mid-1980s, competitive Japan like electronics, automobile industry could feed up uncompetitive Japan like petrochemicals, steel, service sector at the expense of overseas competitors¡¯ market share. But overdependence on overseas market invited super-strong yen in 1985. So export-drive hurts its very condition. There was 2 consequences: Competitive sectors responded with FDI, so-called the problem of ¡®hollowing out¡¯;s Now overseas market couldn¡¯t make up for the feeble domestic demand. So there should be alternative demand in domestic side. Government boosted the demand with pouring down money. Buddle swelled. At last bubble busted. The problem of Japan is not financial mess but the political economy of two Japans. It has weakened the competitiveness and aggregate domestic demand. Deregulation is the answer. But it¡¯s near impossible for political reasons. So the problem lies not in economic side but in political side.
Katz follows the mainstream line of Japanese studies. So His account of Japanese political economy is not that unheard-of. but he articulates the points with simple and clear economic modeling. The picture he draws up is amazingly lucid and plain. His work could be counted as the constellation of a decade¡¯s debates.

The mechanism of developmental state

Embedded Autonomy: States and Industrial Transformation (Paperback) - States and Industrial Transformation
Peter B. Evans / Princeton Univ Pr / 1995년 3월

 지금은 한물 갔지만 developmental state에 관한 논의에서 고전에 속하는 저서이다.

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다 

This book is regarded as de facto classic in the tradition of developmental state. The strategy of developmental state is the denial of extant hierarchy of comparative advantage. To achieve high growth rate, there should be high return sectors. But such sectors, in general, have no relation with developing countries. Then, should developing countries rest with agriculture or labor-intensive industries? Not necessarily. Such sectors tend to be low value-added, in other words, with low growth prospect. If you don¡¯t have it, then make it! It¡¯s the strategy of developmental state. But it¡¯s no more than what to do. There was not satisfactory conceptualization on how East Asian developmental state put that strategy into practice. Amsden¡¯s ¡®Asia¡¯s Next Giant¡¯ (reciprocity) and Evans¡¯ this book marked some conceptual leapfrogging.
In the tradition of developmental state, state intervention is pinpointed as a necessary factor to rapid industrialization in East Asian countries. This book elaborates what states did to promote the industrial transformation (or, in Porter¡¯s word, achieve competitive advantage). Evans argues that ¡®embedded autonomy¡¯ (networking between bureaucrats and business) was the key to the developmental state¡¯s effectiveness. What define the developmental state are ¡®the state autonomy¡¯ (or strong state in the jargon of political science) and ¡®the state capacity¡¯. The state autonomy refers to the insulation of the bureaucracy from particularistic interests of, for example, the labor, the landlord, civil society, or the business. But ¡® a state that was only autonomous would lack both sources of intelligence and the ability¡¯ to implement its strategy. But the state that is only embedded is ready for capture. ¡®Only when embeddedness and autonomy are joined together can a state be called developmental.¡¯ Evans takes real world example, to support his conception, from history of IT sector in South Korea. IT sectors of India and Brazil are taken together. But latters are mobilized to contrast Korea¡¯s against them.  

Hodgepodge of conflicting positions

Knowledge and Social Capital (Paperback)
Eric L. Lesser / Butterworth-Heinemann / 2000년 2월

 대학원 수업에 교재였다. 이 책은 지식경제에 관한 것이 아니라 social capital에 관한 논문모음이다. social capital에 관한 개념 소개 논문이 1부에 있고 2부는 실제 그 개념이 어떻게 적용되는지에 관한 논문들이다. 그러나 social capital이란 개념 자체가 혼란스러운 개념이기 때문에 책 전체의 입장 역시 혼란스럽다. 초보자를 위한 책은 아니다. social capital에 관한 학습을 한 사람이 보는 것이 좋다

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다. 

I read articles on this book for those are assigned in a graduate class. But far from the title implies, The class has no relationship with knowledge economy which is the buzzword in the business community. But this book was used to make us to be familiar with the concept of ¡®social capital.¡¯ Indeed this book tells less about knowledge but much more about social capital. Part I of this book contains introductory articles on the conception of the social capital and Part II lists real world application of the concept. 5 Articles of Part I voices cacophony, however. Reading through the articles only gives confusion to us. Nonetheless, it¡¯s inevitable and intentional for there is no consensus about the very basic conception. So editor deliberately put those conflicting perspectives in one volume. In turn, this way of editing reveals the fact that this book is not suitable to beginners. If you are already known to the word, social capital, reading through competing perspective doesn¡¯t baffle your nerves. But if you haven¡¯t heard the word at all, this book should not be recommended. Overall, the quality of articles is good enough. Indeed those are well-known ones. But if you want to see what the word, social capital at all, this is not your choice. If so, I recommend Nan Lin¡¯s ¡®Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action¡¯. This book does not only overview the various conflicting positions comprehensively, but also systematically define the concept from the network approach. In fact, Nan Lin is a eminent figure in the social network theory.

선에 관한 가장 기초 입문

An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (Paperback)
Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki / Grove Pr / 1994년 1월

선을 체계적으로 서구에 소개한 사람은 스즈키 선사이다. 쉬운 영어로 여러권의 책을 출판했고 이 책은 그중에서 입문으로 역할하는 책이다. 이책은 선입문서들이 다 그렇듯이 선의 초기 시절의 일화들을 소개한다. 그리고 선에 관한 대부분의 책이 그렇듯이 공안과 일화를 소개할 뿐 해설하지는 않는다. 그 뜻은 독자가 깨달아야 한다는 것이다.

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다. 

Zen Buddhism was systemically introduced to the West by Zen master Suzuki. He wrote several books on Zen in plain English and those books are still counted as basic materials to understand Zen. This book cites numerous anecdotes of the heyday of Zen Buddhism, Tang dynasty. This is the typical style of Zen primer.
Buddha attacked the Hinduist concept of atman. Atman is similar to the Platonic forms, that is, all phenomenons have their substance. This way of thought is deeply ingrained in our language. For example, ¡®I¡¯ am always ¡®I¡¯. When I was 5 years old, when I was 20 years old, and when I will be 60 years. And that, we think, with no questioning, those ¡®I¡¯s should have the same identity. And our friends should be so. But those ¡®I¡¯ and she/he could not be the same ones. What always is there is only the name we give. You could know it with no being lost in thought. Buddha taught that the object that our attention is directed lacks the substance and what we really recognize is only the name. The enlightenment, the ultimate goal of Buddhism, is just breaking through the boundaries of that kind of mundane thought. But achieving such breaking is near-impossible. We could understand what Buddha said but knowing is not doing.
Mahayana Buddhism built up heady mountain of scriptures. By the 12 c., it amounted to 160 thousands pages in total. Zen suspected that the enlightenment couldn¡¯t be achieved with reading scripts and meditation. It is best reached not by the study of scripture, the practice of good deeds, rites and ceremonies, or worship of images, but by shaking up ordinary inertia. Zen Buddhism employed Koans to do it. Koan is a brief paradoxical statement or question used as a discipline in meditation. The effort to solve a koan is designed to exhaust the analytic intellect and the will, leaving the mind open for response on an intuitive level. There are about 1,700 traditional koans, which are based on anecdotes from ancient Zen masters. They include the well-known example "When both hands are clapped a sound is produced; listen to the sound of one hand clapping." This should sound the at best illogical at worst babble. But koan is the typical way to reach to the enlightenment in Zen Buddhism. And it is inevitable to write the history of Zen Buddhism is to write the list of koans. This book is no exception. But each koan had its own situation. So each koan should be introduced with its own locale. And this determines the writing style of the Zen primers: almost all Zen primers take the form of storytelling. And Zen master Suzuki is an excellent raconteur.
But Suzuki restrains himself to storyteller, not interpreter of each koan. So you should guess the meaning of koans by yourself. This is the very tradition of Zen-related books. Suzuki could put the meaning of koans in words. But such wording can¡¯t catch the very essence of koan. You should realize it by yourself. All the cues are in this book.

선의 실제 역사

The Golden Age of Zen: Zen Masters of the t'Ang Dynasty (Paperback, 280, Revised)
John C. H. Wu / World Wisdom Books / 2003년 10월

선을 다루는 서적이 대개 그렇듯이 이책 역시 선이 태어나던 시기인 당나라 시절을 다룬다. 원래 영어로 쓰여진 이책은 불교에 낯선 서구인들에게 선을 소개하는 것이었다. 다시 말해 선 입문서이다. 스즈키 선사의 'An Introduction to Zen Buddhism'이 그런 목적으로 쓰여진 책으로는 초기의 저술이고 또 가장 유명하다. 그러나 이책은 스즈키와는 조금 다르다. 스즈키와 마찬가지로 이책 역시 선 입문서의 표준을 따라간다. 공안을 나열하고 연관된 일화를 소개한다. 그러나 스즈키와 달리 저자는 이야기꾼이 아니라 해설자의 입장을 취한다. 이야기꾼은 선을 소개할 때 가장 고전적인 방법이다. 그러나 그런 식으로는 초보자가 선이 무엇인지 알수가 없다. 그러므로 저자는 왜 선이 중국에서 일어날 수 밖에 없었는가부터 시작한다. 그는 도교의 영향을 지적한다. 도교의 이해없이 선은 이해할 수 없다고 말한다. 스즈키의 경우 선을 불교의 전통에서 설명한다. 그러나 선은 역사적 배경에서 이해할 때 더 쉽다. 쉬운 영어로 되어 있어 이해하기 쉽다.

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다. 

This book deals with the heyday of Zen Buddhism, Tang dynasty. The purpose of this book is introducing the Westerners to the Zen Buddhism. In other word, this is a Zen primer. Zen master Suzuki¡¯s ¡®An Introduction to Zen Buddhism¡¯ is widely read for this purpose. But this book is somewhat different from Suzuki¡¯s. Just like Suzuki¡¯s book, this book follow the standard format of Zen primer. Listing koans (about the koan, see my review on Suzuki¡¯s book) chronically with the related anecdotes. But unlike Suzuki¡¯s, Wu takes the stance of interpreter not of storyteller. Storytelling is the classic way to introducing Zen Buddhism (for the reason, see my review on Suzuki¡¯s). But in that way, beginners can¡¯t grasp even the basic of Zen Buddhism. So Wu approaches somewhat differently. He begins with why Zen should take place in China, not in India. He points out the influence of Taoism. Taoism has, in fact, affinity to Buddhism and it¡¯s the mindset the Chinese understood foreign thought, Buddhism. So Wu argue that we can¡¯t figure out Zen without understanding basic principles of Taoism. Suzuki¡¯s book, for example, represents and explains the principles of Zen from the tradition of Buddhism. But unfortunately it seems not that good way to figure out Zen. Like other thoughts, Zen could be best understood against the historical backdrop. And it¡¯s the way this book employs and the beauty of this book: each principle of Zen is explained against Taoism and historical backdrop. Thought could be fully understood when the behind motives are grasped, I think. Yep, such works are not hard to see in Buddhology. But this book is written in the plain English to be steadfast to the intention of Zen primer.