Rehabilitatingcapitalism

　　振興資本主義

　　For those who have lost faith

　　只為重建信心

　　Why Capitalism? By Allan Meltzer.

　　《為何是資本主義?》作者：Allan Meltzer

　　A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the LostGenius of American Prosperity. By Luigi Zingales.

　　《為人民的資本主義：重拾美國繁榮時期消失的天才》作者：Luigi Zingales

　　The financial crisis has led some people to question the viability of Americas economicsystem. Socialisms appeal has faded in Russia and China, and to a degree in other countriesthat once were its champions, such as India and Cuba. But American-style capitalism has nothad an easy time of it either. Crashing financial markets, bank bail-outs and highunemployment have all added to a growing sense of unease about a system that is basedon private ownership of resources.

　　當(dāng)前這場金融危機讓人不由得開始質(zhì)疑美國經(jīng)濟(jì)體系的可行性。社會主義的光環(huán)在俄羅斯和中國已逐漸褪去，甚至在像印度和古巴這樣一度全權(quán)擁護(hù)社會主義的國家，它也早已不再神圣無比。但美式資本主義過的也并不輕松。不斷崩潰的金融市場，銀行緊急財政援助，再加上居高不下的失業(yè)率，這都導(dǎo)致人們對這一建立在資源私有基礎(chǔ)上的經(jīng)濟(jì)體制倍感不安。

　　Why Capitalism? by Allan Meltzer, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University inPittsburgh, is an extended response to some of the calls he has received in recent years.The most thought-provoking came from a woman in Germany who, after reading the NewYork Times, wondered if, only two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she was actuallywitnessing the implosion of the system that brought it down.

　　《為何是資本主義?》的作者Allan Meltzer是匹茲堡的卡耐基梅隆大學(xué)的一名經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教授，該書主要是對他這幾年收到的咨詢電話做出的擴(kuò)展回復(fù)。最發(fā)人深省的電話來自一名德國女士，她在看完紐約時報后，不由深思，當(dāng)初正是資本主義推倒了柏林墻，如今柏林墻倒塌才20年，她是否就已經(jīng)在親臨這一體制的逐漸崩潰。

　　Capitalisms core defence, Mr Meltzer argues, is that it is the only system that leads tofreedom and economic growth. It is less good at ensuring virtue or stability; failure is aninherent part. Indeed the authors observation that capitalism without failure is likereligion without sin. It doesnt work well, has already been widely circulated. However, thesins attributed to capitalismcorruption, fraud and greed, to name but threeare not onlypervasive in systems where the state controls production, but far more damaging and farless likely to be rectified.

　　Meltzer指出資本主義的最核心優(yōu)勢在于它是唯一能夠帶來自由和經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的制度。這一體系并不能保證道德常駐和社會穩(wěn)定，所以失敗崩潰是在所難免的。事實上，本書作者曾說過，不失敗的資本主義就好比沒有原罪的宗教，發(fā)揮不了什么作用。這一觀點已廣為流傳。但是，資本主義帶來的罪惡腐敗，欺詐和貪婪，在此僅列舉這三樣不僅在政府控制生產(chǎn)的體制里蔚然成風(fēng)，其危害性也非常大，并且并不好修正。

　　The main problem, he argues, is that even nominally capitalist systems have, for better andworse, elements of state control. These often begin with defence and the police, and go onto national transport systems, which leads, in Americas case, to an ever-expandingnetwork of bureaus and agencies. Much of bureaucracy is adopted under the rationale ofenhancing fairness. But, as Mr Meltzer notes, fairness often means providing presentbenefits using debt that must be repaid by taxpayers in the future orthrough regulations and subsidies created by people in government who then go on toexploit them in private-sector jobs .

　　Meltzer認(rèn)為主要的問題在于即使是名義上的資本主義系統(tǒng)，無論好壞，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)都是有政府控制成分的。政府控制一般先從國家機器①著手，再擴(kuò)展到交通運輸系統(tǒng)，最后再像美國那樣蔓延至不斷擴(kuò)大中的官僚機構(gòu)網(wǎng)。很多官僚主義是在增強公平的正當(dāng)理由下得以滋生。但是，Meltzer認(rèn)為公平通常意味著用債務(wù)帶來現(xiàn)時效益，但這些債務(wù)將來必須由納稅人償還;或者是通過政府人員制定的規(guī)章和津貼帶來現(xiàn)時效益，而這些人隨后便在私營部門剝削納稅人。

　　It is this last issue that forms the heart of A Capitalism for the People by Luigi Zingales, aprofessor at the University of Chicagos Booth School of Business. Mr Zingales has written anelegy to the America he found when he moved there 24 years ago from an Italy that wasrife with nepotism. Italian businesses preferred to stay small and discreet. Growing biggermade them vulnerable to scrutiny and would require them to hire people on the basis oftalent rather than loyalty; and loyalty was important because it, once again, helped protectthe firm from scrutiny.

　　《為人民的資本主義》一書最后一個話題也正是該書的中心思想，書的作者是芝加哥大學(xué)布斯商學(xué)院的Luigi Zingales教授。24年前，Zingales從裙帶關(guān)系泛濫的意大利來到美國，該書正是Zingales為當(dāng)時他所見的美國寫的一曲挽歌。在意大利，公司一般都喜歡小規(guī)模運作謹(jǐn)慎周密地運作。擴(kuò)大公司規(guī)模會讓他們更容易經(jīng)不起監(jiān)管，還要求他們得根據(jù)能力選人而非忠誠度，但是忠誠度又極其重要，因為正是員工的忠誠才讓他們經(jīng)得住詳細(xì)盤查。

　　Arriving in America, Mr Zingales found an enthusiasm for capitalism. Americans believedthat it was possible to become rich and that increasing wealth benefited the poor as well asthe not so poor. They regarded their capitalist system as fairor at least fair enough. All ofthose sentiments, says Mr Zingales, have been eroded.

　　剛到美國，Zingales看到的是對資本主義的狂熱。美國人堅信，致富是可能的，并且財富的增加對窮對富都是有益無害的。他們認(rèn)為自己的資本主義系統(tǒng)是公正的，不是絕對公正至少也是足夠公正的。Zingales說到，所有的這種狂熱情緒已消失殆盡。

　　Much of the change is a direct result of the vast expansion of the state through complexsubsidies and anti-competitive regulations that invite the sort of cronyism that Mr Meltzercites as well. When government favours the private sector, Mr Zingales argues, it is all toooften by being pro-business rather than pro-market, meaning that favourable conditionsare provided to particular institutions rather than to institutions broadly. This distorts thesystem, resulting in precisely the problem of select companies making profits while imposingcosts on society that Mr Meltzer argues is at the core of what regulation should be designedto prevent.

　　大部分變化多是國家權(quán)力擴(kuò)張的直接后果，國家通過復(fù)雜的津貼和反競爭規(guī)章來擴(kuò)張權(quán)力的，而這種擴(kuò)張帶來的是任人唯親的風(fēng)氣，這在Meltzer的書中也有提到。Meltzer認(rèn)為，當(dāng)政府說支持私營企業(yè)時，往往是支持企業(yè)而非支持市場，也就是說政府是為某些企業(yè)機構(gòu)提供支持，而非廣泛支持所有企業(yè)機構(gòu)。這一行為扭曲了該系統(tǒng)，恰恰導(dǎo)致精英公司得利卻讓社會承擔(dān)代價的后果，Meltzer認(rèn)為這一問題正是制定出的規(guī)章應(yīng)該避免的核心問題。

　　Mr Zingales makes three proposals. Protected sectors, notably education and health care,should be opened up to competition. Tax policy should be changed in two ways. First, itshould be used to make subsidies and their costs more transparent. The deduction onmortgages, for example, should be termed a tax on renting; the lavish benefits provided forethanol production should be regarded as a tax on petrol. Secondly it should be used as asubstitute for complicated regulation and applied against areas that cost society, such aspollution and the use of short-term debt by banks.

　　Meltzer提出三個解決方案。受國家保護(hù)的部門，特別是教育和醫(yī)療，應(yīng)該對外開放，接受競爭。稅收政策應(yīng)該在兩方面做出改變。首先，應(yīng)該利用稅收政策來讓津貼和津貼來源變得更透明。比如，按揭貸款扣除應(yīng)該叫做租賃稅;乙醇生產(chǎn)帶來的豐厚利潤應(yīng)該被冠以汽油稅。其次，稅收政策該被用來代替復(fù)雜的規(guī)章，并且用在對讓社會承受巨大代價的領(lǐng)域，比如環(huán)境污染和銀行短期債務(wù)的使用。

　　More broadly, Mr Zingales wants a closer, explicit, tie between capitalism and morality. Hewants to extend the public shaming of corporate crooks to people who take actions that arelegal, but damaging to society, such as borrowers who walk away from mortgages merelybecause their value exceeds the value of the underlying property. Business schools, MrZingales says, are ideally positioned to point out when an action that provides a benefit foran individual comes at a cost to society, but in reality they rarely bother. This, he believes,is part of the same malaise that has befallen the political debate on capitalism, which hasbeen taken over by special interests and people who have no faith in a real market-basedsystem. For all Americas success, he warns, Washington is on a trajectory that leads toRome.

　　更廣泛地說，Zingales 期盼的是拉近并明確資本主義和道德之間的關(guān)系。他想要擴(kuò)大輿論壓力，要大家不僅恥于騙子企業(yè)，還要恥于行為合法但卻危害社會的人，比如一些借款人，僅因為自身價值超越了作為基礎(chǔ)產(chǎn)業(yè)的房地產(chǎn)的價值而逃避按揭付款。Zingales還指出，當(dāng)個人以社會為代價獲得利益時，商學(xué)院理念上要指出這樣的行徑，但在現(xiàn)實中，它們卻對此不聞不問。Zingales相信，這和政治上對資本主義的爭論都是一種病態(tài)，資本主義已不再是爭論熱點，取而代之的是對特別利益團(tuán)體和那些根本就不相信真正市場導(dǎo)向體制的人的熱議。盡管美國是成功的，但Zingales警告到，華盛頓正在重蹈羅馬的覆轍。

　　Rehabilitatingcapitalism

　　振興資本主義

　　For those who have lost faith

　　只為重建信心

　　Why Capitalism? By Allan Meltzer.

　　《為何是資本主義?》作者：Allan Meltzer

　　A Capitalism for the People: Recapturing the LostGenius of American Prosperity. By Luigi Zingales.

　　《為人民的資本主義：重拾美國繁榮時期消失的天才》作者：Luigi Zingales

　　The financial crisis has led some people to question the viability of Americas economicsystem. Socialisms appeal has faded in Russia and China, and to a degree in other countriesthat once were its champions, such as India and Cuba. But American-style capitalism has nothad an easy time of it either. Crashing financial markets, bank bail-outs and highunemployment have all added to a growing sense of unease about a system that is basedon private ownership of resources.

　　當(dāng)前這場金融危機讓人不由得開始質(zhì)疑美國經(jīng)濟(jì)體系的可行性。社會主義的光環(huán)在俄羅斯和中國已逐漸褪去，甚至在像印度和古巴這樣一度全權(quán)擁護(hù)社會主義的國家，它也早已不再神圣無比。但美式資本主義過的也并不輕松。不斷崩潰的金融市場，銀行緊急財政援助，再加上居高不下的失業(yè)率，這都導(dǎo)致人們對這一建立在資源私有基礎(chǔ)上的經(jīng)濟(jì)體制倍感不安。

　　Why Capitalism? by Allan Meltzer, a professor of economics at Carnegie Mellon University inPittsburgh, is an extended response to some of the calls he has received in recent years.The most thought-provoking came from a woman in Germany who, after reading the NewYork Times, wondered if, only two decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, she was actuallywitnessing the implosion of the system that brought it down.

　　《為何是資本主義?》的作者Allan Meltzer是匹茲堡的卡耐基梅隆大學(xué)的一名經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)教授，該書主要是對他這幾年收到的咨詢電話做出的擴(kuò)展回復(fù)。最發(fā)人深省的電話來自一名德國女士，她在看完紐約時報后，不由深思，當(dāng)初正是資本主義推倒了柏林墻，如今柏林墻倒塌才20年，她是否就已經(jīng)在親臨這一體制的逐漸崩潰。

　　Capitalisms core defence, Mr Meltzer argues, is that it is the only system that leads tofreedom and economic growth. It is less good at ensuring virtue or stability; failure is aninherent part. Indeed the authors observation that capitalism without failure is likereligion without sin. It doesnt work well, has already been widely circulated. However, thesins attributed to capitalismcorruption, fraud and greed, to name but threeare not onlypervasive in systems where the state controls production, but far more damaging and farless likely to be rectified.

　　Meltzer指出資本主義的最核心優(yōu)勢在于它是唯一能夠帶來自由和經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的制度。這一體系并不能保證道德常駐和社會穩(wěn)定，所以失敗崩潰是在所難免的。事實上，本書作者曾說過，不失敗的資本主義就好比沒有原罪的宗教，發(fā)揮不了什么作用。這一觀點已廣為流傳。但是，資本主義帶來的罪惡腐敗，欺詐和貪婪，在此僅列舉這三樣不僅在政府控制生產(chǎn)的體制里蔚然成風(fēng)，其危害性也非常大，并且并不好修正。

　　The main problem, he argues, is that even nominally capitalist systems have, for better andworse, elements of state control. These often begin with defence and the police, and go onto national transport systems, which leads, in Americas case, to an ever-expandingnetwork of bureaus and agencies. Much of bureaucracy is adopted under the rationale ofenhancing fairness. But, as Mr Meltzer notes, fairness often means providing presentbenefits using debt that must be repaid by taxpayers in the future orthrough regulations and subsidies created by people in government who then go on toexploit them in private-sector jobs .

　　Meltzer認(rèn)為主要的問題在于即使是名義上的資本主義系統(tǒng)，無論好壞，統(tǒng)統(tǒng)都是有政府控制成分的。政府控制一般先從國家機器①著手，再擴(kuò)展到交通運輸系統(tǒng)，最后再像美國那樣蔓延至不斷擴(kuò)大中的官僚機構(gòu)網(wǎng)。很多官僚主義是在增強公平的正當(dāng)理由下得以滋生。但是，Meltzer認(rèn)為公平通常意味著用債務(wù)帶來現(xiàn)時效益，但這些債務(wù)將來必須由納稅人償還;或者是通過政府人員制定的規(guī)章和津貼帶來現(xiàn)時效益，而這些人隨后便在私營部門剝削納稅人。

　　It is this last issue that forms the heart of A Capitalism for the People by Luigi Zingales, aprofessor at the University of Chicagos Booth School of Business. Mr Zingales has written anelegy to the America he found when he moved there 24 years ago from an Italy that wasrife with nepotism. Italian businesses preferred to stay small and discreet. Growing biggermade them vulnerable to scrutiny and would require them to hire people on the basis oftalent rather than loyalty; and loyalty was important because it, once again, helped protectthe firm from scrutiny.

　　《為人民的資本主義》一書最后一個話題也正是該書的中心思想，書的作者是芝加哥大學(xué)布斯商學(xué)院的Luigi Zingales教授。24年前，Zingales從裙帶關(guān)系泛濫的意大利來到美國，該書正是Zingales為當(dāng)時他所見的美國寫的一曲挽歌。在意大利，公司一般都喜歡小規(guī)模運作謹(jǐn)慎周密地運作。擴(kuò)大公司規(guī)模會讓他們更容易經(jīng)不起監(jiān)管，還要求他們得根據(jù)能力選人而非忠誠度，但是忠誠度又極其重要，因為正是員工的忠誠才讓他們經(jīng)得住詳細(xì)盤查。

　　Arriving in America, Mr Zingales found an enthusiasm for capitalism. Americans believedthat it was possible to become rich and that increasing wealth benefited the poor as well asthe not so poor. They regarded their capitalist system as fairor at least fair enough. All ofthose sentiments, says Mr Zingales, have been eroded.

　　剛到美國，Zingales看到的是對資本主義的狂熱。美國人堅信，致富是可能的，并且財富的增加對窮對富都是有益無害的。他們認(rèn)為自己的資本主義系統(tǒng)是公正的，不是絕對公正至少也是足夠公正的。Zingales說到，所有的這種狂熱情緒已消失殆盡。

　　Much of the change is a direct result of the vast expansion of the state through complexsubsidies and anti-competitive regulations that invite the sort of cronyism that Mr Meltzercites as well. When government favours the private sector, Mr Zingales argues, it is all toooften by being pro-business rather than pro-market, meaning that favourable conditionsare provided to particular institutions rather than to institutions broadly. This distorts thesystem, resulting in precisely the problem of select companies making profits while imposingcosts on society that Mr Meltzer argues is at the core of what regulation should be designedto prevent.

　　大部分變化多是國家權(quán)力擴(kuò)張的直接后果，國家通過復(fù)雜的津貼和反競爭規(guī)章來擴(kuò)張權(quán)力的，而這種擴(kuò)張帶來的是任人唯親的風(fēng)氣，這在Meltzer的書中也有提到。Meltzer認(rèn)為，當(dāng)政府說支持私營企業(yè)時，往往是支持企業(yè)而非支持市場，也就是說政府是為某些企業(yè)機構(gòu)提供支持，而非廣泛支持所有企業(yè)機構(gòu)。這一行為扭曲了該系統(tǒng)，恰恰導(dǎo)致精英公司得利卻讓社會承擔(dān)代價的后果，Meltzer認(rèn)為這一問題正是制定出的規(guī)章應(yīng)該避免的核心問題。

　　Mr Zingales makes three proposals. Protected sectors, notably education and health care,should be opened up to competition. Tax policy should be changed in two ways. First, itshould be used to make subsidies and their costs more transparent. The deduction onmortgages, for example, should be termed a tax on renting; the lavish benefits provided forethanol production should be regarded as a tax on petrol. Secondly it should be used as asubstitute for complicated regulation and applied against areas that cost society, such aspollution and the use of short-term debt by banks.

　　Meltzer提出三個解決方案。受國家保護(hù)的部門，特別是教育和醫(yī)療，應(yīng)該對外開放，接受競爭。稅收政策應(yīng)該在兩方面做出改變。首先，應(yīng)該利用稅收政策來讓津貼和津貼來源變得更透明。比如，按揭貸款扣除應(yīng)該叫做租賃稅;乙醇生產(chǎn)帶來的豐厚利潤應(yīng)該被冠以汽油稅。其次，稅收政策該被用來代替復(fù)雜的規(guī)章，并且用在對讓社會承受巨大代價的領(lǐng)域，比如環(huán)境污染和銀行短期債務(wù)的使用。

　　More broadly, Mr Zingales wants a closer, explicit, tie between capitalism and morality. Hewants to extend the public shaming of corporate crooks to people who take actions that arelegal, but damaging to society, such as borrowers who walk away from mortgages merelybecause their value exceeds the value of the underlying property. Business schools, MrZingales says, are ideally positioned to point out when an action that provides a benefit foran individual comes at a cost to society, but in reality they rarely bother. This, he believes,is part of the same malaise that has befallen the political debate on capitalism, which hasbeen taken over by special interests and people who have no faith in a real market-basedsystem. For all Americas success, he warns, Washington is on a trajectory that leads toRome.

　　更廣泛地說，Zingales 期盼的是拉近并明確資本主義和道德之間的關(guān)系。他想要擴(kuò)大輿論壓力，要大家不僅恥于騙子企業(yè)，還要恥于行為合法但卻危害社會的人，比如一些借款人，僅因為自身價值超越了作為基礎(chǔ)產(chǎn)業(yè)的房地產(chǎn)的價值而逃避按揭付款。Zingales還指出，當(dāng)個人以社會為代價獲得利益時，商學(xué)院理念上要指出這樣的行徑，但在現(xiàn)實中，它們卻對此不聞不問。Zingales相信，這和政治上對資本主義的爭論都是一種病態(tài)，資本主義已不再是爭論熱點，取而代之的是對特別利益團(tuán)體和那些根本就不相信真正市場導(dǎo)向體制的人的熱議。盡管美國是成功的，但Zingales警告到，華盛頓正在重蹈羅馬的覆轍。