After wind's blowing, basinsmiths get money.---- This is a famous Japanese saying. It means what I said yesterday in this blog. (Look at the below column.) Today let me tell you the rest of the story.
If you knew the whole outline of the tale:
After wind's blowing, sand flutters in the wind. →Many people have got some sand in their eye.→・・・・・→Basinsmiths get money.
you would be asked what we should have do when we had the leaky roof and answer it: Get rid of rats! Why? From this tale, rats ruin the roof and so we have the leaky roof. When a number of rats increases because many cats around the town were caught to skin in order to make the Japanese lute, the roof is more likely to be ruined and thus be leaky. When we have the leakly roof, too nany rats should be got rid of. This is the policy implication obtained from the tale.
Well, again, if you knew that tale but the different whole outline:
After wind's blowing, the roof is blown off.→We have the leaky roof.→We need the basins.→Basinsmiths get money.
you would be asked the same question and answer it: Strengthen the roof! From this story, a wind blows away the roof. We have to strengthen the roof not to be blown away. This is the policy implication from the above tale.
Which answer, on earth, is right? The answer depends on the cause of leaky roof, that is, whether it is because of rats or blowing wind. If many rats went around because of blowing wind, we might have the leaky roof even though we strengthened the roof. If the roof were blown off by wind, we would likely have the leaky roof even though we got rid of rats.
There is some reason why we have that saying at the macroeconomics class in Japan: If we took the cause of recession mistakenly, we would likely have the wrong prescription. The above saying is used well at class to have the econ students know the reason and the meaning of the hard time investigating the cause of recession. We can't solve the problem correctly if we misread it. Bring to light the problem and we can get the more correct solution to it.
6 comments:
Great post on the need to determine what caused an economic event before the appropriate policy prescription can be formulated.
Also, I like cats.
Thank you, Mr.Anonymous.
By the way, what do you mean that "you like cats"?
Please tell me in detail enough to have the poor-English-speaking Japanese students understand the meaning.
Here is a very good description of cats-- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat
Please let me know if you have any more questions.
Oh,now I know.Thank you, Mr.Anonymous. You like cats.
I also prefer cats to dogs because dogs bark at me. And so I can't have dogs.
By the way, if you are an American, you would have something to say about the President,George W. Bush.I have one question for you: what do you think should we do for better society?
Mr. Okamoto, I think the world would be a much better place if we had enough spaghetti to feed all the cats. Some cats are vagabonds and go hungry.
There are other problems in the world. I just really like cats and wish this problem would be solved.
Thank you,Mr Anonymous.
It's a good answer, I think. By the way, is it necessary to give enough spaghetti to all the cats? Are cats happy with eating spaghetti? Do cats like spaghetti?I think,however,we have already had enough spaghetti to feed all the cats in the developed country. I never see the cat starve to death in Japan.
Anyway, your answer is funny even if you are serious.Thank you for your answering my question.
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