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Research on Economy and Disability

In April 2007, our project "A study on disability in a socio-economic context: toward a unified social science" received a five-year grant from JSPS* (creative scientific research). This project will look into issues related to disability in socio-economic arena from various viewpoints, including economics, disability studies, sociology, social welfare sciences, law, and history.

What science gives us is a systematic way of looking at things. We regard disability not only as a physical phenomenon but as a social phenomenon. Different viewpoints may lead to different landscapes. This project intends to create a new scientific research field, i.e., a new systematic way of looking at phenomena, by learning various viewpoints from many of you.

Alfred Marshall, a giant in economics, once said that the purpose of economics is to educate the leaders of society with “cool heads but warm hearts”. This phrase particularly goes well with the present project. With this phrase in mind, we, the members of this project, are determined to conduct our research. We would appreciate it if you could monitor our project with warm but sharp eyes.