Takakazu Honryo: Entertaining Scholars

At universities and research institutions both in Japan and abroad, it is common practice to invite researchers from other institutions to give research presentations lasting 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 to give a presentation once a week at a fixed time.

At overseas universities, it is standard practice not only to request a research presentation but also to have researchers from the host university schedule 30-minute individual meetings with the presenter before and after the talk. At many universities, this ends up occupying the presenter for the entire day. The University of Mannheim holds the belief that filling the presenter's schedule with individual meetings from morning to night demonstrates 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 not enough volunteers sign up for individual meetings, 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 hardly say no. However, even though it is all called "economics," the field encompasses a wide range of research themes and completely different analytical methods, so there are many cases where it seems impossible to find enough 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 survive a 30-minute meeting, I look for common topics with the person through their website or other means. I might find a mutual friend and steer the conversation that way. I also check the 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 where I had submitted a paper, came to give a research presentation, so I requested an individual meeting myself. Then, early that morning, I received a so-called rejection letter via email from him, declining to publish my paper. During that individual meeting, I was able to fill the 30 minutes by voicing my complaints.

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