Lighting the Sword: Observing the Great Economic Era

Author: Zhou Qiren
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-01-01
Features: The scene is as if it were a line from a poem written by Xin Qiji: "Under the influence of wine, picking up a sword to look at it, upon waking, the horns blow in the camps." Thus, in consultation with the editor, the column was named "Picking up a Sword to Look at It," intended for publishing some observations and reflections on the grand era of the economy. Historical experience is traceable: "Poverty breeds change" is easy, but it is difficult to change again after achieving some success, and what is most dangerous is to make mistakes in advance when pursuing opportunities in the grand era, taking the wrong path. All troubles are concentrated in the institutional costs. Like all cost curves, institutional costs will inevitably rise again after they have fallen. Market size expands, and transaction costs increase accordingly, which is unavoidable; non-market economic organization costs have always been high, and if gradual reform no longer advances or even stagnates, this part of the institutional costs will become even higher. Added together, the actual trend of all institutional costs and the ways to save them are crucial. This is also a key point in this book's observation of the grand era of the economy, and readers should not miss it when reading. The articles collected in this book mainly come from the author's three columns he has previously set up: "Qiren's Articles" in "21st Century Business Herald," "Picking up a Sword to Look at It" in "Economic Observer," and "Economics in Life" co-authored with Xue Zhaofeng in the Chinese version of "Financial Times." The author thanks the editors and readers of the three newspapers, especially Zhang Dongsheng, Yin Lian, and Zhang Lixian for their patient efforts in urging the submission of articles and their meticulous editing work. Without them, the author would not have been able to write three articles every two weeks. Similarly, without Lin Junxiu and Ren Xuhua of Peking University Press, these articles would not have been compiled into a book so smoothly. Last, the author is particularly grateful to Zhang Wuchen for writing the book title, which instantly gave this small book "collectible value." Perhaps he knows how much I owe him, so he just responds to every request.