시인과 경제학

유장희

　

경제학은 시인의 몫이다
인간은 물질로만으로
행복하지 못한다
아리스토텔레스가 말한대로
인간은 사회적 동물이라
혼자는 살 수 없다

　

　
가족이 있고 친구가 있고 이웃이 있다
가족과 친구와 이웃이 불행하면
나만의 행복이 의미가 없다
내 주변이 행복해야
나도 행복하다

　

　
시인은 예술가다
주변의 일들을 소상히 살피면서
예쁘고 아름답고 신선하고 감동적인
느낌을 채취하여
글로 그림을 그린다
영감(靈感)이 문화(文化)로 전달된다

　

　
경제학의 목표가 행복이라면
영감의 문화로 이웃을 감동시키면
나를 넘어 주변을 아름답게 채색하면
그는 바로 시인이다

　

　
냉철한 머리와 뜨거운 가슴
알프레드 마샬이 백번 옳다
경제학자들이여
먼저 시인이 되라

　

Jang-Hee Yoo

B.A. in Economics, Seoul National University; M.A. in Economics, UCLA; Ph.D. in Economics, Texas A&M University.

Dr. Yoo served as a professor of economics at Clark University (1972–1976), Virginia Commonwealth University (1976–1988), and Seoul National University (1988–1989). He served as President of the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy (1989–1997), Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies at Ewha Womans University (1997–2004), and Vice President of Ewha Womans University (2004–2006).

He also served as a member of APEC’s Eminent Persons Group (1998–2001), Chair of the ROK Government’s Foreign Policy Advisory Council (1998), Chair of the National Assembly Budget Office Advisory Committee (2004), President of the Korean Economic Association (2003), Vice Chairman of the National Economic Advisory Council (2011), and President of BBB Korea (2011).

Dr. Yoo authored Macroeconomic Theory (1975), New Currents of Economics (1985), APEC and the New International Order (2005), New Light over the Limit (2008), Privatized Republic (2008), and other works.

[Editor’s Note: In 2022, a rare event occurred in the world of economists, many (if not all) of whom our opinion columnist Yeomin Yoon regards as a “confused, sophomoric species.” The Korean Association of Poets officially recognized the prominent Korean economist Yoo as a poet at a major gathering of Korean poets. The Association awarded Dr. Yoo a plaque (등단패), formally recognizing him as a “real poet.”

The Association recognized four people, including Dr. Yoo, as “new poets.” The combined ages of the other three new poets—23, 25, and 31—did not even equal Dr. Yoo’s age. This economist-poet, a rare combination, confessed: “I felt like an old man enrolling in elementary school as a student.”]

　

Poet and Economics

Written by Jang-Hee Yoo
Translated by Byoung K. Park

　

　

Economics is the poet’s share.
Only through materials
humans can’t be fulfilled.
As Aristotle stated,
humans are social beings
who can’t live alone.

　

　　
Family, friends, and neighbors live together.
If my family, friends and neighbors are unhappy,
my happiness is meaningless.
When they are happy,
I become happy.

　

　
Poet is an artist.
Noticing things around you with keen eyes,
digesting the beautiful, fresh
and touching feelings,
compose a picture by letters.
Inspiration is transformed into culture.

　

　

If the objective of economics is happiness,
inspirational culture touches neighbors and
beautifully paints vicinity beyond your surroundings,
that is the poet.

　

　
“Cool-heads but warm hearts,”
Alfred Marshall is absolutely right.
Dear economists,
foremost, be a poet.

　

　

Byoung K. Park teaches poetry, world literature, and Asian literature at Lorain College in Ohio. He earned a Ph.D. in English from Western Michigan University.

He translated Carolyn M. Kleefeld’s Soul Seeds into Korean, which was published as an English-Korean bilingual edition by Cross-Cultural Communications (2014).

His essay, “What? Translating the Meditative Poems of Ko Un: Pointed and Witty Short-line Lyrical Poetry,” was published in Translation Review (2015). As a visiting scholar, he taught at Ajou University in Korea (2016).

His current projects include translating Bruce Weigl’s Song of Napalm into Korean (forthcoming in 2024) and editing a book dedicated to celebrating the centennial of Ko Won’s birth (2025).