牛津通识读本：大众经济学 [1]
达斯古普塔教授和其他许多在国际上扬名的印度经济学家一样，以深厚的数学功底而成为杰出的理论经济学家，但是，他的经济学研究不是为了数学而数学，而是为了深入了解人类社会发展和人性本身，1989到1992年他在美国斯坦福大学任教时，同时担任了经济系和哲学系的教授，并且，兼任斯坦福大学社会伦理项目的主任。
1995年牛津大学出版社推出一套简短介绍每个学科领域的丛书，作者都是学界公认的大师。1999年达斯古普塔教授接到出版社邀请后，碰到了和我想写一本《大众经济学》时一样的困境，结果用了整整七年的时间才完稿。现在摆在读者面前的这本书，从描述一位生活于非洲的小女孩和一位生活于美国的同龄小女孩所处社会中的个人行为准则、家庭、社区、生产组织、市场、政府等各种制度安排的差异着手，来介绍自亚当·斯密以来，经济学家们不断探索一个主要问题——一个国家是贫是富的决定因素——所取得的各项研究成果。从书中的介绍可以知道，一般人关注的资本、自然资源等仅仅是决定一个国家贫富的表层原因，根本的决定因素则在于一个国家的制度安排是否能够最大程度地调动每个人在工作、学习、积累、创新等方面的积极性。
这本小书是在他1993年出版的一本巨著《贫富论》（An Inquiry into Well-Being and Destitution）的基础上，加上十多年来经济学界新的理论进展和他自己对斯密问题新的理解、新的体会而写成。和这本小书不同，《贫富论》厚达661页，单单参考书目就有80页。达斯古普塔教授将《贫富论》献给其父，在前言中他写到该书是对其父早年所提问题的回复，他想以该书所讨论的内容告诉他父亲，“看，这是我认为我知道是重要的，这是我现在相信的，这些是我的价值，这是我思考问题的方法”。他的父亲阅读了前面几个章节，给了他一些正面的反馈，令他深感遗憾的是在1992年其父离世时，《贫富论》尚未能完稿。
2005年9月达斯古普塔教授应邀到北大中国经济研究中心来做严复纪念讲座，我那时得知他正在写作这本书，2006年我收到了他寄来的英文稿，一口气读下来，喜爱至极。他以文学家般的雅致和数学家般的准确语言，通俗易懂地向读者介绍了经济学界对斯密问题研究的成果，这正是我多年来想写而未能写的一本书！我当即建议将此书翻译成中文出版，并答应为之作序。现在这本书的中文译本即将出版，祝愿这本书的读者阅读之后能够对经济学家如何以理性的视角来观察世界和分析问题有所了解，并且，希望读者能够认识到决定一个国家贫富的主要因素在于制度，资本、自然资源的多寡仅仅是贫富的表象。
2008年1月16日于
朗润园
Foreword
Justin Yifu Lin
Following economic reform and liberalization，the establishment of a market economy in China has created much interest in understanding and mastering the principles of the operations of a modern market economy，and the study of modern economics has become very popular in China.For example，the China Center for Economic Research（CCER）at Peking University，of which I am the director，offers an undergraduate double degree in economics which admits 800new students every year——a number equal to nearly one-third of all new undergraduate enrollment at Peking University.A new generation of Chinese economists is emerging.
Since Adam Smith published An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations in 1776，sparking the development of economics as an independent social science separate from philosophy，numerous famous economists have sprung up and a large number of researchers have devoted their lives to economic research.Currently，the American Economic Review publishes as many as 2000pages per year，with other 1000plus articles appearing annually in various first-tier academic journals.In addition，various schools and theories are appearing and different theoretical perspectives are emerging.In particular，since the 1950s，mathematics，statistics and econometrics have become common techniques in theoretical modeling and empirical testing in economic research.As a result，general readers without solid mathematical training are unable to directly track the development of modern economics.
For many years I have wanted to write a concise book similar to Ai Siqi's Popular Philosophy to introduce the elementary propositions in modern economics in a lively style and through accessible examples，rather than complicated jargon and intricate mathematics，allowing readers to understand the basic ideas and analytic methods of modern economics.Further，the book would help readers understand the economic phenomena around them in their everyday lives.But，when I began to write，I found that this was much more easily said than done.Even writing a simple and understandable introduction for my own field——economic development——proved difficult.Given the added distraction of my administrative duties，I was never able to get very far，despite several attempts.Thus，when I first found Professor Partha Dasgupta's book，I immediately recognized the significance of his work.
Professor Partha Dasgupta has been my academic friend for years.We first met in October 1991.I had been invited to the International Economic Association Conference at Windsor，England，discussing the 1977Nobel Laureate James Meade's new book Agathotopia：The Economics of Partnership（Agathotopia means ‘good but not perfect’，while Utopia means ‘perfect but infeasible’）.Meade had sought a ‘third way’in his book，a road different from traditional capitalism or communism.In the words of Kenneth Arrow