Professor James Wen graduated from Fudan University, Shanghai, Chna in 1982 with an M.A. in Economics, and from University of Chicago in 1989 with a Ph.D. in Economics, specializing in development economics, Globaization, and the economies of East Asia, particularly China.
James Wen loves teaching. First, he believes in good reading materials and textbooks that avail students of the most updated information and of different views and opinions. Second, in his teaching, mathematics is balanced by an institutional and historical approach. Third, he believes that Economics can be learned more effectively if students are challenged to think more deeply and to practice more.
The earlier focus of James Wen’s research was in China’s total factor productivity in its agriculture and the Great Leap Famine. His more recent research interests are the remaining agrarian issues, and issues that are troubling China as it moves to modernization, urbanization and globalization. More recently, he turns his interests to issues such as the Needham Puzzle.
Q10:坛友钟过:
文老师,您好!2010年《经济学(季刊)》出了关于“三年大饥荒”研究的专刊。您在与刘愿老师合作的文章中指出,农民退堂权的缺失是造成饥荒的主要原因。而Chang and Wen(1998)则指出,无效率的消费(吃饭不要钱)是导致饥荒的原因。这两者之间的内在逻辑联系是什么呢?Chang and Wen(1998)还认为FAD和Sen的权利方法都不足以解释中国饥荒的成因。而Lin and Yang(2000)认为Sen的权利方法是适用于中国的。但刘愿(2010)又指出,Sen的权利方法是可以从经济权利扩展到政治权利的,并且政治权利是可以用来解释中国饥荒的成因的。您是如何看待Sen的权利方法的?它是否能够解释非市场经济体制下(尤其是中国)的饥荒呢? A10:
我和张欣教授合作的论文注意到大饥荒发生于农村人均粮食消费和次高的58年和59年,因而无法怪罪于生产力的崩溃,所以将饥荒的发生归咎于公社食堂造成的浪费,以及公社食堂对生产的不利影响。我和刘愿教授合作的文章将这一想法进一步往前推一步,归咎于公社食堂对农民退出食堂的退出权的剥夺,实际上剥夺了农民一年生产后最后的一点劳动果实--口粮--的控制权。也就是说,在食堂制度下,农民的一切实物的和现金的收入都被剥夺,因而解释了1959年后生产的极大破坏,而这种破坏既和其后无关,又和苏联的所谓背信弃义无关。我们还指出,一旦这种退堂权被回复,一旦农民将自己的口粮重新掌握在自己手中,饥荒便结束了。现在想来,Sen关于权利的理论还是很有普遍意义的。因为当时的中国农民其实是没有这些理所当然的权利的。但Sen虽然提出了普遍的理论,却没有意识到自己的理论经过适当的推演和修正,也是可以用来解释中国的极为特殊的饥荒的成因,而这个饥荒是完全因人祸而发生的。我曾那张重现饥荒全过程的图(见我和刘愿的文章)当面解释给Sen听,记得当时在场的还有姚洋老师和C.Riskin, 他们都很感兴趣,似乎很认同。