COVER COVER LEAD LEAD Can Economics Save the World from Rising Geopolitical Incertitude? By Naoyuki Haraoka There has been growing public distrust in the political leading thinkers as speakers who may not be prepared with ideas to provoke positive thinking about the future. one of the editors and contributors of After Piketty: The elites’ ability to deal with economic policy issues, such with answers but who could provoke new ideas among It will be seen that education is a crucial means for Agenda for Economics and Inequality, talks about the as continuous deflation, fiscal debt, expanding income the audience and participants. The elites and the general reducing the income gap between rich and poor. concern that income inequality today could be socially inequality, and increasing job insecurity from structural public must begin collaborating to find solutions to the Capacity building by self-education through reading a fixed by inheritance and thus result in reduced equality adjustments due to globalization. The general public geopolitical and economic uncertainties we face today, think tank’s publications or attending a policy seminar of opportunity. In particular, limited access to good have a reason to distrust them, because most of these and the key to this collaboration must be respect for organized by a think tank may help to mitigate the education would seriously hamper social mobility and elites are intellectuals, graduates of prestigious knowledge. excessive gap, and we hope our cover story helps to further increase income inequality. universities or graduate schools, who are having to face Knowledge must not be monopolized by political elites stimulate curiosity to learn about economics, in Another contributor to After Piketty: The Agenda for an unprecedented landscape which they have never but needs to be widely shared among the public. particular. It is also important to reiterate the crucial role Economics and Inequality, Dr. Mark Zandi, chief learned about. We are undergoing a significant paradigm Prestigious universities are not the only places where of education in tackling the possible increase in economist of Moody’s Analytics, warns about the risk of shift in our epoch, symbolized by the United States one can acquire knowledge and become an intellectual. unemployment due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. income inequality destabilizing the economy and thus adopting a lower profile in the domain of the economy People who are not fortunate enough to have the Only those people with high skills or expertise gained lowering growth potential through poor households’ as well as security, the US-China conflict over sensitive opportunity to learn at high-level academic institutes through self-education, even if they are graduates, will increased access to mortgage debt and credit card debt, technologies, and a malfunctioning capitalism creating could educate themselves, at least about current policy be able to survive the serious competition in the as well as rich households’ increasing dependence upon unacceptable levels of income inequality. The Fourth issues, by paying attention to the work of think tanks. machine age. asset prices. This is an important observation, Industrial Revolution, driven by digital technology, has Distrust of elites should not lead to distrust of The first article of the cover story is my own short suggesting income inequality would be a problem not added further uncertainty by raising the possibility of knowledge or intelligence. A truly intelligent person essay on “Economic Policy in an Age of Rising only in the social or political context but also in the low-skilled or medium-skilled labor being replaced by AI loves knowledge and learning regardless of his or her Geopolitical Risks”. You may recall French economist macroeconomic context. or IoT. The political elites are not yet well equipped with academic record. Thomas Piketty’s excellent book on income inequality, Finally, Dr. Linda Yueh, a distinguished economic knowledge to deal with this possible rise in This issue’s subject is how economics can work to Capital in the Twenty-First Century (2013). Dr. J. Bradford journalist and author of The Great Economists: How unemployment. But neither the general public nor the allay rising geopolitical uncertainty. Economics is often DeLong, a distinguished economics professor at U.C. Their Ideas Can Help Us Today (2018), responded to a elites should be blamed for the political instability referred to as a dismal science and is not popular Berkeley, and his colleagues surveyed new issues on wide range of questions on the role of economics today, caused by their conflicting views and values. The among the public, so it is a good subject to examine the income inequality being developed by economists not only about income inequality but also about the paradigm shift goes beyond their experience and public’s anti-elitism. Anti-elitism could in a sense be stimulated by Piketty’s book and published After Piketty: global economy in the face of the US-China technology learning. In a globalized world, these conflicting views anti-economics. But economics is not a monopoly of the The Agenda for Economics and Inequality in 2017. He war, post-Keynesian policies with little room for fiscal could lead to geopolitical crises, and so both ordinary elites, since it can provide vital knowledge for solving a kindly contributed a leading article on the political and monetary policy being implemented effectively, and people and intellectuals should strive to educate wide range of critical issues, such as how to mitigate economy agenda after Piketty. even about the future of the capitalist economy. themselves to find suitable responses to them. No text income inequality – one of the factors behind rising This is followed by interviews with three other book can provide these answers. Symposiums and geopolitical risks. economists. Dr. Heather Boushey, president & CEO of forums are the best way to explore solutions, with The issue’s cover story attempts to provide readers the Washington Center for Equitable Growth, who is also 2 Japan SPOTLIGHT • November / December 2019 https://www.jef.or.jp/journal/ COVER COVER LEAD LEAD Can Economics Save the World from Rising Geopolitical Incertitude? By Naoyuki Haraoka There has been growing public distrust in the political leading thinkers as speakers who may not be prepared with ideas to provoke positive thinking about the future. one of the editors and contributors of After Piketty: The elites’ ability to deal with economic policy issues, such with answers but who could provoke new ideas among It will be seen that education is a crucial means for Agenda for Economics and Inequality, talks about the as continuous deflation, fiscal debt, expanding income the audience and participants. The elites and the general reducing the income gap between rich and poor. concern that income inequality today could be socially inequality, and increasing job insecurity from structural public must begin collaborating to find solutions to the Capacity building by self-education through reading a fixed by inheritance and thus result in reduced equality adjustments due to globalization. The general public geopolitical and economic uncertainties we face today, think tank’s publications or attending a policy seminar of opportunity. In particular, limited access to good have a reason to distrust them, because most of these and the key to this collaboration must be respect for organized by a think tank may help to mitigate the education would seriously hamper social mobility and elites are intellectuals, graduates of prestigious knowledge. excessive gap, and we hope our cover story helps to further increase income inequality. universities or graduate schools, who are having to face Knowledge must not be monopolized by political elites stimulate curiosity to learn about economics, in Another contributor to After Piketty: The Agenda for an unprecedented landscape which they have never but needs to be widely shared among the public. particular. It is also important to reiterate the crucial role Economics and Inequality, Dr. Mark Zandi, chief learned about. We are undergoing a significant paradigm Prestigious universities are not the only places where of education in tackling the possible increase in economist of Moody’s Analytics, warns about the risk of shift in our epoch, symbolized by the United States one can acquire knowledge and become an intellectual. unemployment due to the Fourth Industrial Revolution. income inequality destabilizing the economy and thus adopting a lower profile in the domain of the economy People who are not fortunate enough to have the Only those people with high skills or expertise gained lowering growth potential through poor households’ as well as security, the US-China conflict over sensitive opportunity to learn at high-level academic institutes through self-education, even if they are graduates, will increased access to mortgage debt and credit card debt, technologies, and a malfunctioning capitalism creating could educate themselves, at least about current policy be able to survive the serious competition in the as well as rich households’ increasing dependence upon unacceptable levels of income inequality. The Fourth issues, by paying attention to the work of think tanks. machine age. asset prices. This is an important observation, Industrial Revolution, driven by digital technology, has Distrust of elites should not lead to distrust of The first article of the cover story is my own short suggesting income inequality would be a problem not added further uncertainty by raising the possibility of knowledge or intelligence. A truly intelligent person essay on “Economic Policy in an Age of Rising only in the social or political context but also in the low-skilled or medium-skilled labor being replaced by AI loves knowledge and learning regardless of his or her Geopolitical Risks”. You may recall French economist macroeconomic context. or IoT. The political elites are not yet well equipped with academic record. Thomas Piketty’s excellent book on income inequality, Finally, Dr.