【每日德鲁克】2026年5月31日

31 May

Post–Economic Theory

We have an approach that relates economics to human values.

Tomorrow's economics must answer the questions: "How do we relate the way we run a business to results? What are results?" The traditional answer—"the bottom line"—is treacherous. Under a bottom-line philosophy, we cannot relate the short run to the long term, and yet the balance between the two is a crucial test of management.

The beacons of productivity and innovation must be our guideposts. If we achieve profits at the cost of downgrading productivity or not innovating, they aren't profits. We're destroying capital. On the other hand, if we continue to improve productivity of all key resources and improve our innovative standing, we are going to be profitable. Not only today, but tomorrow.

In looking at knowledge applied to human work as the source of wealth, we also see the function of the economic organization. For the first time we have an approach that makes economics a human discipline and relates it to human values, a theory that gives a businessperson a yardstick to measure whether she's still moving in the right direction and whether her results are real or delusions. We are on the threshold of posteconomic theory, grounded in what we know and understand about the generation of wealth.

5月31日

后经济理论

我们已经拥有一种把经济学与人类价值联系起来的方法。

未来的经济学必须回答这样的问题：“我们如何把企业运营方式与成果联系起来？什么才是真正的成果？”传统答案——“利润底线”——是危险的。在“利润底线”哲学之下，我们无法把短期与长期联系起来，而两者之间的平衡，恰恰是管理最关键的检验标准。

生产力与创新，必须成为我们的灯塔。如果我们以降低生产力或停止创新为代价来获取利润，那就不是真正的利润，而是在毁灭资本。相反，如果我们持续提升所有关键资源的生产力，并不断提升创新能力，我们就会保持盈利——不仅是今天盈利，而且是明天也盈利。

当我们把应用于人类工作的知识视为财富来源时，我们也就看到了经济组织真正的功能。我们第一次拥有了一种方法，使经济学成为一门关于人的学科，并使其与人的价值联系起来。这一理论为企业经营者提供了一把尺子，用来衡量自己是否仍然走在正确方向上，以及自己的成果究竟是真实的，还是幻觉。我们正站在“后经济理论”的门槛之上，而这一理论建立在我们对于财富生成机制的理解之上。