There are three alternative courses of action for a political economist to take when a crisis blows up in an area that is far from his speciality or range of interest, such as banking in my case. The first is to stay silent. The second is to bone up as quickly as possible on the new area and to talk plausibly about Basel I, Basel II, the looming Basel III, first and second tier capital and so on. The third is not to bluff one's way into the technical discussion but to use the crisis to think about a few fundamentals. The third is the course that appeals to me.
當危機爆發的領域遠離自身專長或興趣范圍（就我而言是銀行業）時，政治經濟學家有三種做法可以選擇。第一是保持沉默。第二是盡快學習一些新領域的知識，然后煞有介事地討論巴塞爾協議I (Basel I)、巴塞爾協議II (Basel II)、即將到來的巴塞爾協議III (Basel III)、一級資本、二級資本等等。第三是不去虛張聲勢地進行技術討論，而是利用危機思考一些根本的東西。對我有吸引力的是第三種做法。