摘要: | 亞當﹒ 史密斯( 1723----1790) 的《國富論〉和馬歇爾( 1842----1 924 )的〈經濟原則〉兩書中,同時皆強調市場機制是解決人類經濟活動的重要課題,其中包括如何生產、生產什麼及為何生產等議題。宏觀的經地理論,涵蓋了生產、消費、交換及分布等課題, 1898 年英國經濟學家馬歇爾引用了「供需決定價格」之說,來研究人類的經濟行為,因而開啟了Neo-C1assicalism學派的形成。經濟思想是以自由經濟為主導,所以雖有與此思想對立的理論出現,如法國社會主義理論者聖賽門( 1760----1825) 、英國社會改革家羅伯﹒歐文( 1771-1858) 等人之學派,即使這些人很努力地朝著社會主義前進,但仍無法通阻自由經濟思想的發展。在美國經濟學家亞瑟( 1877-1959) 出現之前,人們質疑市場機制能否解決一切的經濟問題,包括公用事務的缺乏、生意上的盈虧週期、貧富不均的問題等,是以亞瑟鼓吹福利經濟的概念。此概念綜合應用主義、馬歇爾的經濟原則以及政府的干預等經濟理論,用此一概念嚐試解決自由經濟所無法解決的經濟難題。凱恩斯( 1883 ----- 1946 )將1 930 年的經濟大蕭條歸因於有效需求的置乏,所以, 市場機制如何調整皆可, 但仍無法合理分配資源, 使其達到完全就業的理想目標。然而,失業是一自然現象, 故凱恩斯從經濟觀點來看, 解決1930年經濟大蕭條的方法,最重要的是政府的因應對策,生口羅斯福總統所提出一連串政府政策一般。像挪威等北歐國家,即是以凱恩斯之主張來推動國家福利政策。所以,政府要管制經濟發展到何種程度呢?是需要衡量現有之經濟狀況, 以作為因應方案之參考。東方陰陽調和觀念與天人哲學,即已超含此一問題的答案了,在今日二十世紀資本主義衰退的時代,或許新的經濟模式與東方思想有著密切的關聯性存在。 Adam Smith (1723-1790), founding father of economics and classical economic theory, in The Wealth of Nations (1776), and Alfred Marshall (1842-1924), in The Principles of Economics (1898), emphasized the abi lity of the market function to solve the principal issues of human economic existence: how to produce, what to produce, and for whom to produce. Macroeconomics theory covers production, consumption, exchange, and distribution. In 1898, British economist Marshall used "price is determined by demand and supply" to analyze human behavior. Thus began NeoClassicalism.
Economic thought was dominated by the free economy, and, although theories emerged in opposition to the spirit of the free economy, the efforts of the French socialist Saint Simon (1760- 1825),
English social reformer Robert Owen (1 77 I -1858), French utopian socialist Charles Fourier (1772-1837), French anarchist Joseph Proudlon (1809- 1865), and German Communist Karl Marx (1818-1883) could not change society's march toward a free economy. Before the arrival of American economist Arthur C. Pigou (1877- 1959), people doubted the market function could solve all economic problems. The "invisible hand " did not solve problems of externality, lack of public goods, business cycles, and unequal distribution of wealth. Pigou promoted the concept of welfare economics, a combination of Jeremy Bentham's (1748- 1832) uti litarianism, Alfred Marshall's economic principles and government intervention, in an attempt to resolve economic difficulties the market function could not conquer. John M. Keynes (1 883- I 946) attributed the Great Depression of the 1930s to insufficient effective demand. Adjustment of the market function could not make fulI use of the resources necessary to accomplish total employment. Unemployment was a natural phenomenon. Keynes thought the best economic solution for the Depression was government fiscal policies, President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal for example. Scandinavian countries later used Keynesian concepts to implement their social welfare policies. To what degree should the government control economic development? The answer is related to the current stage of economic development. The Oriental value of the Harmony between Yin-Yang and the philosophy of Heaven and Human nature can give the answer. This is the evidence of the collapsed of the Communism and the declined of the Capitalism in the 20th century. Perhaps, the third model economic development of the oriental value will be the main stream of the economic development in the 21 century. |