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Ishida Baigan (1685-1744), who sought to develop a set of business ethics for merchants, asserted “to obtain business profits fairly is the proper practice of merchant living, ” and that this was legitimate because “merchants are vassals (social servants) of the street.” Then, he stressed that the merchants ought to establish their own viewpoint about the social meaning of commercial transactions. Furthermore, asking what the true meaning of a transaction should be, he maintained that “true merchants are those who satisfy their customers as well as themselves, ” -in other words, the transactions had to benefit both parties in buying and selling. Merchants, therefore, must respect their customers' interest. Thus, Baigan said that merchants had to cultivate the mind of the people in the realm. On the other hand, the thought of Baigan is characterized as “a philosophy of frugality, ” which he developed from his experience in a merchant house. This way of living was named “shimatsu” which implied the maintenance of a ballance between beginning and end. While shimatsu means economic rationalism in business philosophy, Baigan, having conceived the idea of frugality in a higher sense, recognized it as the basis of all moral virtues, and identified it as honesty. He said that one could lead a frugal life naturally when he was honest, and that he could recover the genuine honesty which was innated to every one whenever he put frugality into practice. Behind such a thought was the idea of “mottai-nai”, a sort of national sentiment. This word implies literally the loss of appearance or manner proper to its nature, that is intolerable because it is contrary to the blessing offered by an invisible God. Then, Baigan explained, in brief, that frugality was “to abide by a law of existence.” In such a thought, frugality is nothing but rationalization itself.

Territory, national versus regional, has been at the basis of claims to power in most federations, and Canada is no exception. But regionalism has had to contend with another perspective on political power in Canada: economic rationalism or entrepreneurism, which views its own conduct and that of government as the maximization of economic profit. As advocated by the federal government, most particularly under Trudeau, economic rationalism conceived of a division of powers that is efficient, least costly, flexible, hierarchical, systematic, and rational. This pursuit of omnicompetence and unrestricted jurisdiction has resulted in unilateral federalism initiated by Ottawa and rejoindered by provinces. It constitutes a major challenge to cooperative relations and an abdication by the national government of its brokerage role between the interests of the extensive and intensive communities in Canada.

In October 1992 the newly elected Victorian state government (a coalition of the conservative Liberal-National Parties) under the leadership of Jeffrey Kennett introduced its legislative programme for deregulating the Victorian state industrial relations system. The most important in a series of enactments was the Employee Relations Act 1992 1 (the ERA) which sought to implement a revolutionary new system of industrial relations inspired by the ideas of the "New Right" as they have emerged in Australia, and elsewhere, over the past twenty years (Mitchell, 1993a). These ideas, founded upon a supposed "economic rationalism", advocate the regulation of labour markets by voluntary agreement between employers and employees to the total, or at least substantial, exclusion of unions and state intervention

Background Almost thirty-five years ago, Victor Papanek pointed out the design ers' responsibilities with respect to major social and environmental needs.2 Papanek's call perhaps was the earliest alarm bell ringing for a change in the design profession. His call drew responses that ranged from blind adulation to cursory indifference, but had less impact in the mainstream industrial production, consumer culture, and on development policies. The polarization proposed by Papanek, between industrial production in developed countries and local production in developing countries, did not help design to become a critical element of development policies. This polarization, in fact, reflects the general view of design?associated with indus trial production, and therefore not suitable for the implementation of development policies (although Papanek is clearly contrasting this view).3 For several years the majority of designers interpreted their social role as complementary to business strategies. This approach was very critical of any design initiative that was not based on the traditional market-driven approach. It is true that a small group of designers was proposing interesting, albeit isolated, design contribu tions for the solution of social or environmental problems,4 but the logic of economic rationalism seemed unbreakable, and it did not contribute to any exploration of the middle ground between pure market-based industrial logic and socially responsible design. Yet much has happened in recent decades. Twenty years after Papanek, a study of sustainability promoted by the Dutch govern ment5 offered a more substantial argument for change: a model using some projections of critical environmental factors suggested that a ninety-percent reduction of the global ecological impact (factor 10) is needed by 2040 to preserve a significant amount of resources for the next generation. The study sparked a debate about how to work towards that reduction,6 and it most likely was one of the references for setting the target of the Kyoto protocol. Furthermore, it issued a strong warning against expanding the Western development model to developing countries.

Are public pension funds taking sustainability values into serious consideration? This question is addressed by analyzing annual reports of The Council on Ethics in the Swedish public pension system, which has a clear mission from The Swedish Government to consider sustainability values. The council was established in 2007 and supports four funds with advice. This article studies empirically how the council’s expression of words connected to different values has changed over time as well as how it practically reasons in situations of value conflicts. The quantitative data shows that words indicative of “sustainability values” have considerably increased. As a contrast, the critical discourse analysis shows that the council often reasons in a general, loose way about preferable solutions, while more practical claims for action are largely lacking or are vague in relation to sustainable development. The underlying rationale is very much in line with the discourse of economic rationalism. Thus, the quantitative findings suggest an emerging sustainability discourse, while the qualitative analysis clearly indicates that an economic rationale continues to underpin the council’s practical reasoning. However, it is concluded that this is not a simple case of green washing documents but rather a slow train moving towards green institutional change.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that the 1990–91 social and economic policy changes in New Zealand were associated with a subsequent increase in socio-economic and ethnic inequalities in the dental caries experience of five-year-old children. Method: Dental caries data from the School Dental Service treating the greater Wellington area were analysed for the period 1995–2000. Multivariate models were developed for deciduous caries prevalence (logistic regression) and severity (negative binomial regression). Results: In the years 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000, complete data were available for 2,627, 3,335, 4,404, 4,155, 3,154 and 2,804 children, respectively. Ethnic and socio-economic differences in caries prevalence and severity were substantial and persistent during the observation period. Where caries severity was concerned, there was a significant interaction between time and Maori ethnicity, indicating that (on average) the oral health of Maori children deteriorated in comparison to their European counterparts. Conclusions: The early-1990s social and economic policy changes were associated with an apparent widening of ethnic inequalities in caries severity among five-year-old children. Implications: Economic rationalism appears to have oral health disadvantages for non-European children. Before implementation of proposed major social and economic policy changes, policymakers should consider their health implications.

IT SEEMS INDISPUTABLE that a combination of complementary economic conditions, close cultural ties, and geographic proximity between Japan and the Chinese People's Republic (CPR) would normally be conducive to the substantial expansion of their trade. While the CPR can be both a useful market and a major source of raw materials for Japan, the latter is in an excellent position to assist the former's industrialization.' This promise of mutual benefits, however, has been largely undermined by a number of non-economic factors, including the absence of diplomatic and political harmony. Moreover, the Chinese have long used, or sometimes abused, trade as a primary instrument of their political operations in Japan. As trade increased appreciably in the i96os, its political role loomed larger in Chinese foreign policies. Especially, during the Cultural Revolution, China applied the slogan "politics in command" in all dimensions of Sino-Japanese trade, even to the extent of disregarding the elementary requirements of economic rationalism. Hence an editorial in the Japan Times (March 8, i968) bluntly complained that "the Chinese Communists are so completely swayed by political feelings that they have allowed their distrust of Japan to enter into their consideration of commercial matters." Indeed, this tendency not only reflected a particular direction of China's policy toward Japan, but also stemmed from a unique system of trade relations which rendered Japan singularly vulnerable to the CPR's shifting maneuvers. Since i963 there have been dual channels of Sino-Japanese commercial intercourse-"friendship trade" and "memorandum trade"-each representing different political backgrounds and economic problems. The relative economic importance of these two methods fluctuated at least partially in proportion to their respective usefulness for China's political interests. The Chinese often balanced one method against another in an attempt to gain a better political leverage in Japan and to mobilize Japanese trade circles in forcing the Japanese government into some concessions in its China policy. Friendship trade was initiated by Premier Chou En-lai in i960, because the drastic decline in Sino-Soviet economic relations, coupled with the failure

M1AX WEBER'S essay on the Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism represents a highly fruitful, if also controversial, encounter between history and sociology. Any adequate appraisal of the validity of Weber's thesis must necessarily look at both the empirical data and the theoretical propositions in two ways. These considerations have determined the structure of this paper. First, I shall indicate very briefly my understanding of Weber's thesis. Second, as the main burden of this paper, I shall look at seventeenth century American Puritanism. Finally, I shall try to indicate the place of these findings in the larger framework of Weber's preoccupation with the rise of modern capitalism. Weber's argument does not concern itself with the rise of capitalism as such and even less with accounting for the existence of human acquisitiveness. Both of these had existed long before Calvinism or Puritanism. The historical phenomenon to be explained is modern Western capitalism with its economic rationalism, formally free market, and formally free labor. What Weber sees in this capitalism is that it includes, among other dominant traits, a particular quality of mind, a set of attitudes towards economic activity. In Calvinism and more especially in Puritanism we find the formation of a character structure which is explicitly religious in intent but which nevertheless could contribute to the formation of an economic ethos. The religious ethic did not indeed approve of the quest for profits and ever-renewed profits; the goal of man's activity was to glorify God. But under conditions in which particular kinds of economic activity could flourish, once these activities were set in motion, the religious norms and impulses could fall away; men could continue to be diligent in worldly employments, find sufficient incentive in the rewards which their activities provided, and eventually find other ideological justifications for their enterprises. The religious forces had removed the inner resistance to the development of certain types of practical rational conduct. The rise of modern capitalism is thus an "unanticipated consequence" of the Protestant ethic.'

The thesis of this paper is that fourteenth century German mystics administered psychotherapy to fourteenth century German merchants, thereby aiding the efforts of the merchants to rationalize commerce and society. The argument runs that the merchants' emphasis on economic rationalism violated traditional values of the Church and of medieval society in general. Since the Church and the associated social order were perceived as controlling every man's chances for salvaticn, the merchants felt anxious and guilty about their rationalist tendencies, and were therefore tempted to dilute them. Another solution, however, was to continue the rationalism but to seek therapy for the anxiety and guilt that it evoked. Mysticmonks were among those who provided such therapy. Analyses and speculations are offered regarding the symbolism that goaded the therapy forward.