Chapter 37 system determines happiness

"Chen Zhiwu" is becoming an increasingly familiar name for many people who pay attention to social issues in China. In 2006, he returned to China three times and published his thoughts on domestic issues through articles, forums, interviews, etc., both in terms of the breadth of topics and the number of topics, far more than in previous years.From "what prevents us from starting a business" to "why there are so few tech upstarts in China", from "the outdated concept of 'big land and abundant resources' wealth" to "'new Physiocratism' is unnecessary", from "why does the United States have more wealth than any other country?" Money" to "why the Chinese economy cannot do without press freedom", they talked about everything.

Professor Chen's thinking is not an expedient policy contributed to a one-time event, but more of a rational call for the construction of a national system.From the fact that the Chinese people are hardworking but not rich, he saw China's backwardness in system construction; he believed that "China has crossed the river by feeling the stones, and it has passed a long way, and it is time to consider the reform of the system and mechanism"; in an interview In the book, he shed tears when talking about the suffering that China has brought to the Chinese people due to the lack of system construction.

And such deep attention was due to his trip from Shanghai to New York on July 15, 2001.In the 15 years before that, he had grown from a poor engineering student who went to study in the United States alone with $70, to become a professor of economics at a famous American university, a world-class authority in the field of financial pricing, and a member of several international academic journals on economics. Reviewers.His research results have won Merton?Miller Research Award, Chicago Board Options Exchange Research Award and many other major awards, he was rated as the world's 202nd economist, brilliant academic future is under his feet.

But the "Caijing" magazine on the plane ended this simple academic research life to some extent. He found that the China when he left in 2015 has become history. After more than 20 years of reform and opening up, China has experienced at the same time The transition from a planned economy to a market economy, from an agricultural society to an industrial society, and from a closed society to an open society.In the history of the world, there are not too many countries undergoing these three transformations at the same time. The unprecedented breadth and depth of China's transformation and the difficulties it encountered provide a very good laboratory and database for scholars.

From December 2001, Chen Zhiwu began to publish articles in domestic media, expounding his views on hot issues.He encountered great difficulties almost immediately: the long-term use of English caused a rusty sense of Chinese language, and living abroad made him lack sufficient sensitivity to the way of thinking and interests of domestic readers.Therefore, he spent 8 months systematically studying the reality of China after he left, and gradually grasped the context of Chinese social development. From the impoverished rural life in his hometown in Chaling, Hunan to the spacious residence in the university town of New Haven, Connecticut, USA, Chen Zhiwu's life trajectory has undergone a qualitative change.But he doesn't seem to have the self-satisfaction that successful people often have, or the low self-esteem that is almost unavoidable for people from grassroots. Because of his thorough understanding, his articles always appear plain and simple.Although I have never met him in person, he was always calm and patient when he answered my questions over the phone from across the ocean with his magnetic, deep voice.When the phone line is bad, he will raise his voice to let you hear more clearly; for two or three hours, he narrates, occasionally laughs, and almost never uses professional vocabulary, but it always makes people understand The feeling of top, the confidence and charm of a scholar blows to the face.

Although he has been regarded as a spiritual mentor by many people, Chen Zhiwu believes that paying attention to Chinese issues firstly gives him a sense of satisfaction in pursuing new knowledge, and doing what he likes is an end in itself; It is of course better if more domestic people have improved their knowledge.But he doesn’t think he has the ability to change the society. He believes that the impact of scholars on society is mainly long-term, and the short-term impact is limited after all. He is not a revolutionist, and he does not agree with that kind of passionate revolution. He believes that the progress of society is gradual and slow. In this process, he is willing to do some basic work to promote people to change their understanding.

◎Reporter: You go back to China several times a year, how did you feel the most recent time?There are many problems in the country at present. What do you think is the most fundamental crux? Chen Zhiwu: The last time I returned to China was in August this year. I have been to Shanghai, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Hunan, Inner Mongolia and other places. The biggest feeling is that the country is so big and the situation in each place is very different.It would be difficult, and it shouldn't be, if every local government is required to abide by a monolithic policy, including requiring intellectuals, officials and other people from all over the country to have the same views on issues.It is not only unrealistic to require localities to obey the central government 100% without bargaining, but it also means that localities cannot protect the interests of local people.The current governance model, which is highly regulated, relies on approval, and requires full obedience from the local government, is costly and requires the local government to make too many sacrifices.In a more ideal situation, all regions have the right to fight for local interests, which is a basic right.In my hometown, Chaling, Hunan, local bank branches absorb deposits from rural areas, and then transfer most of the funds to cities. The local government has no discretion, which greatly damages the development opportunities of the local economy.In China, the difference between Hunan, Shanghai and Inner Mongolia is even greater than the difference between some countries. In this case, the requirement of absolute unity and obedience is often based on the premise of damage to the interests of the local people and the absolute sacrifice of the local people. It is the big cities that benefit most.This is the institutional root cause of urban-rural differences and regional differences.

China is currently facing many challenges, but one of the core problems is that there are still huge misunderstandings in people's worldview and way of thinking.In the past 28 years, although there have been some changes and adjustments in the textbooks of universities, middle schools and primary schools, textbooks such as political economy are still far behind the development of Chinese society, and the problems of seriously outmoded values ​​have not been fundamentally improved. The core values ​​of modern society such as the market economy have not been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.This is most concentrated in people's views on the market economy, the world and foreign countries.For example, when there is a problem, people's first reaction is to "rely on the government to strengthen supervision", and they continue to believe in slogans such as "the world is for the public", which sounds chic but is actually misleading.What is this "public"?After handing over our own property and interests to this "public", why wouldn't those who control this "public" "fake public affairs for personal gain"?Why do we naively believe that "the world is for the public" before there is an institutional framework to ensure that "the public is really for the public"?

According to the logic of linguistics and anthropology, the terms a person usually uses can basically reflect his way of thinking.If so, when we look at the language used to discuss many hot issues in China, you will find that people still understand all economic phenomena from the perspective of exploitation and surplus value, or look at everything from a political point of view, failing to break through the old ideology and old thinking. For example, on the issue of the rise of great powers, we have been taught that Western powers all started by plundering and exploiting, but this is not entirely true. There are many successful experiences in system building; China has been in contact with the West since the Westernization Movement. China's industrial system, public industries such as electricity, telephone, and petroleum, mass media such as newspapers, magazines, and the Internet, stocks, securities, and manufacturing industries all come from the West, but we turn a blind eye to this and will not see the development brought by the West to us. In the past, only negative things such as suffering and harm were emphasized one-sidedly.Interestingly, when Chinese companies go out today, this becomes: Foreigners investing in China is exploiting, while Chinese companies going out is contributing to others.Isn't this contradictory?Such an emotional worldview with obvious double standards may not be able to support China's rise.In order to ensure the long-term sustainable and stable development of Chinese society, humanities and social science textbooks in primary, secondary, and universities must be changed. Many outdated things should be changed and keep pace with the times, otherwise it will cause future troubles for China.

◎Reporter: As a scholar, you must have higher academic goals or ambitions. Will your attention to domestic issues distract you from this? Chen Zhiwu: Objectively speaking, this is indeed a trouble.Speaking on domestic issues, I have to collect a lot of information, read a lot of literature, and do research, which takes a lot of time. Moreover, there are too many headaches in domestic affairs, and it is often painful to conduct such research.In fact, pure theoretical research also fascinates me. I like mathematics. Sometimes when I see beautiful mathematical economic models and data made by others, I feel that it is really enjoyable, and I really want to go back and do it again.But even if the publication volume of the current academic papers is affected, I still have a lot to gain.The depth and breadth of the transformation that Chinese society is undergoing in all aspects is unprecedented. I have the opportunity to witness, observe and study the era of great changes in Chinese society, and to express my opinions and conduct in-depth research on issues of interest to me. With such an opportunity, it is a great opportunity for a For scholars, it is a great blessing, because they were born at the right time.There are many academic issues arising from China’s transformation that would never have been imagined in a mature society. My input will bring my academic research to a higher level. In fact, I feel that my academic vision has been very positively affected. There is an unprecedented fullness.

◎Reporter: In your opinion, when scholars intervene in public life, how can they ensure their independence and impartiality? Chen Zhiwu: This is a very, very important question.One thing is for sure, most scholars choose to devote themselves to academic research, no doubt out of love for this field, and their moral sentiments will generally be very high.But scholars are also human beings, they have families and children, and they have to support their families. When they consult and serve as consultants to enterprises or other units, they should of course be paid, and the services should not be free. They also have the right to do so.However, in order to avoid conflicts of interest, when scholars publicly speak on issues involving specific public interests, they should disclose whether they have an interest relationship with relevant interest groups and whether there is any economic interest in it.As long as there is such a disclosure, readers and listeners can make their own judgments, greatly mitigating potential conflicts of interest.Obviously, it would also be a loss to society if they were not allowed to speak at all because of potential conflicts of interest, as they tend to be experts in certain fields. However, government officials and people in policy research departments should avoid economic relations with enterprises and should not charge fees, including when they attend conferences and speak, they should not accept red envelopes and the like. They already have state funds and salaries, let alone With administrative power and policy decision-making power, the conflict of interest will be too great.It is unforgivable that a think tank under the State Council should not take government money while consulting for companies, or even help companies lobby to influence policies.In the United States, when people from the Securities Regulatory Commission are invited to a meal or a meeting, they must pay their share of the bill, and they will not accept red envelopes because they are afraid of conflicts of interest. ◎Reporter: Public interests are often vague and easily abused. In your opinion, how can we define public interests as accurately as possible?In the process of forming and expressing public interests, how can the voices of disadvantaged groups be expressed and reflected? Chen Zhiwu: In an agricultural society, there are few contacts between people. What happens in one place in Hunan may not have much impact on other places, so there will not be too many public interest things.But it is different now. Economic globalization has made almost all issues involve public interests.The influence of public interests is so wide that not to mention officials, scholars, and business people, even personal food, accommodation, and transportation will affect public interests, and the society is required to fully protect vulnerable groups in the process of forming and expressing public interests.The realization of this goal, of course, cannot rely on the goodwill of the powerful, and cannot only rely on morality to play a role, but must have corresponding institutional arrangements and rigid structures: play the role of supervision by the news media, democratize decision-making, allow extensive and Restricted discussion, establishment of democratic institutions and the rule of law, and improvement of mechanisms for negotiation and resolution of social conflicts. ◎Reporter: Please imagine, if you had never gone abroad, would you have achieved what you are today? Chen Zhiwu: It is very difficult, at least it is impossible to have such a great future in academic research.I studied technology at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels in China, but I realized very early that technology itself is useless without institutional guarantees.So when I stayed in school after graduating from graduate school, I asked to be a teacher in the political teaching and research section, wanting to study the institutional guarantee of science and technology.But when I arrived there in early 1986, my main job was to do odd jobs: a carload of apples came to the unit, and I asked each teacher how many catties you wanted, and then knocked on the door to collect money, and then delivered the apples to every home. .So, after working for less than a year, I went abroad to study economics at Yale University.Now that I think about it, even if I didn’t do chores at that time and stayed in China, due to the limitations of subjective and objective conditions, my achievements today are probably very limited. ◎Reporter: You once said that the life of a typical Chinese is not happy. How do you understand this sentence? Chen Zhiwu: Since the Opium War, the Chinese people have a strong sense of political mission and a heavy spiritual burden.Too much sense of political mission has made the Chinese too easy for opportunists to exploit, facilitating multiple political campaigns over the past 150 years.Not only have people who sacrificed for politics in history followed suit, but even now, two and a half of the three sentences in many Chinese are talking about the future of the country and major political issues.In contrast, Americans go to the beach and bars whenever they have time, talk less about politics, and spend more time with their families.As a result, some Chinese media ridiculed Americans for being politically indifferent and unpatriotic. But in fact, in any society, if too many people talk about politics all day long, it just shows that people in that society are still too unhappy.If there is so much that is unhealthy, injustice, and wronged, if people feel insecure and have no confidence in their future, of course people have to talk politics to claim a better future.As a result, politics is ubiquitous in people's lives, which is a misfortune; while in the United States, the social institutional framework is quite mature and stable, people have confidence in politics, a sense of security, and it doesn't even matter who is in power. With such a premise in place, there is no need for people to be obsessed with politics. Nine out of ten sentences cannot be separated from politics and the big question of "Where is China going?"Therefore, to increase people's sense of happiness, the most fundamental thing is to make breakthroughs in system construction, so that people can obtain happiness without always talking about politics, and life should not always be so heavy. ——I am not calling on Chinese people not to care about politics. Under the current state, it is indeed impossible not to care about national affairs, and they should care about them.However, I sincerely hope that one day, China can also enter such an ideal social realm: people who are naturally interested in politics can devote themselves to studying or engaging in politics, but more people don’t have to care about politics, and don’t have to worry about China’s future. Instead of worrying, focus on enjoying life and spending more time with your family.At that time, Chinese people will be truly happy.