Published on July 1, 2021
Job titles and other details are as of the time of publication.
(The interview was conducted in Japanese and was thereafter translated into English.)

Structure of economics discovered in Les Misérables

Economics can be viewed as a “futile” field of study, apparently discussing nothing but money and the bottom line, but this is not actually the case. Economics is an academic discipline aiming for new heights by battling and balancing the two elements of efficiency and equity. I recognized this structure while enjoying the musical Les Misérables. My discovery came from a work of art, rather than through a series of research efforts. This encounter may reflect my own background of embarking on a research career path from different fields, including work at a financial institution.

Joining the Economic Planning Agency to pursue my studies while working

I specialize in public economics and have focused my studies on social security issues, such as public pensions, income distribution, redistribution policy, and educational policy, since beginning my research career at the age of 33. As for social security, I participated in the International Social Security project in the US National Bureau of Economic Research to analyze and compare internationally the impacts of social security systems on employment for the elderly.

In recent years, I have engaged in empirical research using individual data to examine the relationship between regional disparities and the sense of well-being as well as the redistributive effects of tax reform, while continuing my studies related to social security.

As a student, I majored in international economics. I wanted to pursue this major, but my impression at the time was that people who went on to graduate school were different from me. Seeking an opportunity to continue studying while working, I joined the Economic Planning Agency (current Cabinet Office), where I was tasked with surveys and analyses regarding the spillover process of fiscal stimulus as well as long-term projections.

This was around the time when the use of computers was becoming widespread in businesses. I really enjoyed gathering data by having a workstation calculate the conditions and variables I produced. While conducting analyses and predictions based on the obtained data for use in drawing up policies, I acquired the perspective of exploring the meaning of these policies, which later helped me with my research.

Presentation skills honed at a multinational financial institution

I later changed careers because I wanted to see a different world, and joined J.P Morgan, where I served as a business economist providing clients with information on economic forecasts and other developments. Working at a multinational financial institution, I naturally improved my foreign language skills. I am not confident enough to say that I became fluent, but I honed my presentation skills more than language proficiency. I was trained to acquire various methods, such as stating the conclusion in the first sentence when summarizing analyses in a report, and writing in an easy-to-understand way.

This may be off topic, but I still use these methods when writing research paper presentations. Some people say my papers are too easy to understand, and others say they should be developed with more back-and-forth approaches. Well, there is little I can do about such opinions.

While I improved my presentation skills, my deliverables were consumed at a tremendous rate by economists in their face-paced business world. I started thinking about doing something that would remain and chose to embark on a research career path.

Making long-term projections for social security based on experience

As a researcher, at the age of 33, I obviously had made a late start compared with other researchers. Numerous researchers study the macroeconomic world, especially the Japanese economy. I did not learn in depth about supervisors in graduate school as I entered a research career path from different fields. To be honest, I was not sure about which domain to pursue research on.

Just then, a former senior colleague from the Economic Planning Agency invited me to conduct studies on social security and public pensions. I was out of touch with these topics and knew little about my own social insurance. But when I heard of the research theme on predicting the sustainability of future pensions, I realized that I could take advantage of my experience in making long-term economic projections. Since deciding to pursue research in this domain, I have engaged in studies on social security as mentioned at the beginning.

I have recently expanded my research areas beyond economics and written papers on interdisciplinary studies of medicine and sociology, such as the relationship between social capital and health, determinants of caregivers’ mental health, and the impact of the socioeconomic environment on childhood health.

One-sided view of economics focusing on the bottom line

Engaging in other disciplines makes me realize once again what a futile field the study of economics is. People generally may have the impression that economics always discusses profits and losses, and values only efficient ways of doing business. These impressions are true in a sense, but I think they are one-sided views.

There are two pillars to economics. The first is efficiency. No other field of study emphasizes efficiency more strongly and discusses it more seriously than economics. Efficiency is virtually equal to “money.” A study on the necessity of raising the consumption tax to make up for a revenue shortfall is unlikely to win public support, and there is no fun in focusing solely on this task.

The second pillar is equity. The original aim of economics is to explore how people can live an affluent and happy life. Such topics as public pensions, social security, and healthcare are closely related to equity. I believe this is all about helping people in need.

It is very difficult to balance the two pillars while paying attention to both. There is no right answer. With the passage of time, people’s values change, and so does the way of maintaining this balance. Tackling these challenges to aim for new heights is the appeal of economics.

Finding two conflicting pillars to deepen one’s understanding of the world

I first became aware of this idea while watching the musical Les Misérables at a get-together event for researchers. I am a big fan of the Takarazuka Revue, Japan’s all-female musical theater troupe. When I was asked to organize the event, I planned a trip to the Imperial Theatre, where Les Misérables was playing at that time. While watching the stage performance, I discovered the structure in which the protagonist Jean Valjean and the antagonist Javert fight each other, with their battles leading to new heights. It is not that one is good and the other is bad, but new heights are reached through the conflict between two opponents. I felt this was important.

In fact, this type of structure is also widely seen in Western art and other academic fields: melody and countermelody in classical music, heroes and antiheroes in movies, and argument and counterargument in dialectics. It then occurred to me that economics may be based on this structure as well, and that was how I formulated the two pillars of efficiency and equity.

On the other hand, Japanese people seem to prefer things proceeding to the end with only the main melody, rather than two counterpoints battling each other. In this way, discussions are never deepened. Probably, all kinds of things, including art and other academic fields, as mentioned earlier, appear to be working with two conflicting elements contesting each other, and the world seems to follow this pattern. In other words, finding two conflicting pillars is the first step to understanding the current situation and thinking about what the future will bring. This concept could be a very appealing research theme for young people about to study economics. It is my hope that many of them will take up the challenge with this perspective in mind.