午夜剧场

At universities and research institutions both in Japan and abroad, it is common practice to invite researchers from other institutions to give research presentations for about an hour to an hour and a half for the purpose of exchanging information and opinions. At the University of Mannheim in Germany, where I work, three research groups—Microeconomics, Macroeconomics, and Econometrics—each invite an external researcher once a week at a fixed time to give a research report.

At overseas universities, it is normal not only to request a research report but also for researchers at the host university to set up 30-minute individual meetings with the presenter before and after the presentation time. At many universities, this results in the presenter being occupied for the entire day. The University of Mannheim believes that filling the presenter's schedule with individual meetings from morning to night serves as an appeal that there are many enthusiastic researchers, and above all, it is a matter of courtesy and hospitality for those who have traveled to visit.

If enough volunteers for individual meetings do not gather, the administrative staff will call and ask us to schedule a meeting with the presenter. Since I am always indebted to the administrative staff, I can't really say no. However, even though it is all called "economics," it encompasses a wide range of research themes and completely different analytical methods, so there are many cases where it seems impossible to find topics to fill 30 minutes. As someone who analyzes the formation of collective will by creating mathematical models, I have very little confidence in having a meaningful 30-minute exchange of research opinions in English with a scholar I am meeting for the first time who conducts empirical research on the relationship between education levels and domestic violence.

Therefore, to get through a 30-minute interview, I look for common topics with the interviewee through their website or other means. Perhaps I will find a mutual friend and can steer the conversation that way. I also check the other person's nationality in advance. If they are Italian, I can talk about soccer; if they are South Korean, I can usually just talk about Slam Dunk (the manga).

Just the other day, the editor-in-chief of the American Economic Review, the journal to which I had submitted a paper, came to give a research report, so I requested an individual meeting myself. Then, early that morning, I received a so-called "rejection letter" from him via email, declining to publish my paper. During that individual meeting, I was able to fill the 30 minutes by lodging a complaint.

*Affiliations and titles are those at the time of writing.