This book constructs an economic theory which may be studied like the I
Ching: it contains multiple patterns within a grand whole; it consists
of multiple parts and each part represents itself as a consistent unity.
The book is the key part of my economic theory with endogenous
popUlation, capital, knowledge, preferences, sexual division of labor
and consumption, institutions, economic structures and exchange values
over time and space (Zhang, I 996a). It has taken me a long laborious
process to systematize the ideas represented in this book: formulating
the grand vision in Schumpeter's sense, searching for or creating many
ideas, of which only a few have 'survived', and now completing this book
to make a tell. I remember Schumpeter's attitude: new ideas, unless
carefully elaborated, panistakingly defended, and 'pushed', simply will
not tell (Schumpeter, 1934), Keynes' observation: the difficulty lies,
not in the new ideas, but in escaping from the old ones, which ramifY .
. . . into every comer of our minds (Keynes, 1936), as well as
Confucius' recognition of the importance oftiming: If my p'rinciples are
to advance, it is so ordered. If they are to fall to the ground, it is
so ordereo. (Confucius, 1992). Acknowledgements I completed this book at
the Swedish Institute for Futures Studies. I am grateful to the pleasant
and effective environment- produced by the staff of the Institute. I
acknowledge my deep appreciation to Professor Ake E. Andersson, my
supervisor of Ph. D.