2018年经济学人 过剩学问:经济体的宏观与微观(3)

 

To grasp Say's point requires two intellectual jumps.

理解萨伊的要点需要两种学术方面的提升。

The first is to see past money, which can obscure what is really going on in an economy.

首先，要看透钱，它能够屏蔽经济体中真正正在发生的事情。

The second is to jump from micro to macro, from a worm's eye view of individual plants and specific customers to a panoramic¹ view of the economy as a whole.

其次，要从微观上升到宏观，从单个工厂和个别客户的狭隘视角上升到把经济体作为一个整体的宏观视角。

Firms, like coal plants and cotton mills, sell their products for money.

如同煤矿和纺织厂一样，公司销售产品是为了钱。

But in order to obtain that money, their customers must themselves have previously² sold something of value.

但是，为了得到这些钱，他们的客户必须自己先卖出某种值钱的东西。

Thus, before they can become a source of demand, customers must themselves have been a source of supply.

因而，在他们可能成为需求之源之前，客户必须自身就是供给来源。

What most people sell is their labour, one of several “productive services” on offer to entrepreneurs.

大多数人出售的是他们的劳动力，这种提供给实业家的多项“生产性服务”之一的东西。

By marshalling these productive forces, entrepreneurs can create a new item of value, for which other equally valuable items can then be exchanged.

通过组织管理这些生产性服务，实业家能够生产随后能够用以交换其他等价物的新产品。

It is in this sense that production creates a market for other products.

正是在这种意义上，生产创造出对其他产品的市场。

In the course of making his merchandise, a producer will pay wages to his workers, rent to his landlord, interest to his creditors³, the bills of his suppliers and any residual⁴ profits to himself.

在生产货物的过程中，生产方将要付给工人工资、房主租金、债权人利息。同时还要支付供给方的账单以及付给自己的任何剩余利润。

These payments will at least equal the amount the entrepreneur can get for selling his product.

这些支付至少要等于实业家从销售产品中所能得到的总钱数。

The payments will therefore add as much to spendable income as the recipients⁵' joint⁶ enterprise has added to supply.

因而，这些支付将带来与接收方的合伙企业带来的供给增加一样多的可支出收入的增加。

That supply creates demand in this way may be easy enough to grasp.

供给是以这种方式创造需求的，这一点可能是很容易理解的。

But in what sense does supply create its “own” demand?

但是，供给是在何种意义上创造它“自身的”需求呢？

The epigram seems to suggest that a coal plant could buy its own coal—like a subsistence farmer eating the food he grows.

这一警句似乎是想表明，煤矿可能购买自己的煤——就像自给自足经济中的农民吃自己种的粮食一样。

In fact, of course, most producers sell to, and buy from, someone else.

当然，实际上，大多数生产方既向别人销售，也从别人那里购买。

But what is true at the micro level is not true at the macro level.

但是，在微观层面是正确的，在宏观层面就不正确了。

At the macro level, there is no someone else.

在宏观层面，没有所谓的他人。

The economy is an integrated whole.

经济体是一个融和的整体。

What it purchases and distributes among its members are the self-same goods and services those members have jointly⁷ produced.

它在自己成员中购买和分配的是这些成员联合生产出来的完全一样的商品和服务。

At this level of aggregation⁸, the economy is in fact not that different from the subsistence farmer.

在集合体的这个层面上，经济体实际上不是那么有别于自给自足经济中的农民。

What it produces, what it earns, and what it buys is all the same, a “harvest” of goods and services, better known as gross domestic product.

它所生产的、所赚取的，所购买的全都是相同的，是商品和服务的“收成”，即更为人们所熟知的国内生产总值（gross domestic product）。

How then did Say explain the woes⁹ of his age, the stuffed warehouses¹⁰, clogged¹¹ ports and choked markets?

那么，萨伊是如何解释他的时代的种种痛苦——满满的仓库，拥挤的港口和窒息的市场——的呢？

He understood that an economy might oversupply¹² some commodities, if not all.

他知道，经济体可能过度供给某些商品，即便不是全部。

That could cause severe, if temporary, distress¹³ to anyone involved in the hypertrophied industries.

这可能给任何参与到过度发展行业中的人造成虽说短暂、但却是严重的伤害。

But he argued that for every good that is too abundant, there must be another that is too scarce.

但是，他指出，对于每一种泛滥的商品，必定有稀缺的另一种。

The labour, capital and other resources devoted¹⁴ to oversupplying¹⁵ one market must have been denied to another more valuable channel of industry, leaving it under-resourced.

被奉献给过度供给一个市场的劳动力、资本和其他各种资源对另一个更有价值的行业渠道来说，必然是不予接受的，从而使其处于资源供给不足之中。

1 panoramic   

adj. 全景的

参考例句：

• Most rooms enjoy panoramic views of the sea. 大多数房间都能看到海的全景。
• In a panoramic survey of nature, speed is interesting because it has a ceiling. 概观自然全景，速率是有趣的，因为它有一个上限。

2 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

3 creditors   

n.债权人，债主( creditor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They agreed to repay their creditors over a period of three years. 他们同意3年内向债主还清欠款。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Creditors could obtain a writ for the arrest of their debtors. 债权人可以获得逮捕债务人的令状。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 residual   

adj.复播复映追加时间；存留下来的，剩余的

参考例句：

• There are still a few residual problems with the computer program.电脑程序还有一些残留问题。
• The resulting residual chromatism is known as secondary spectrum.所得到的剩余色差叫做二次光谱。

5 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

6 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

7 jointly   

ad.联合地，共同地

参考例句：

• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
• She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。

8 aggregation   

n.聚合，组合；凝聚

参考例句：

• A high polymer is a very large aggregation of units.一个高聚物是许多单元的非常大的组合。
• Moreover,aggregation influences the outcome of chemical disinfection of viruses.此外，聚集作用还会影响化学消毒的效果。

9 woes   

困境( woe的名词复数 )； 悲伤； 我好苦哇； 某人就要倒霉

参考例句：

• Thanks for listening to my woes. 谢谢您听我诉说不幸的遭遇。
• She has cried the blues about its financial woes. 对于经济的困难她叫苦不迭。

10 warehouses   

仓库，货栈( warehouse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The whisky was taken to bonded warehouses at Port Dundee. 威士忌酒已送到邓迪港的保稅仓库。
• Row upon row of newly built warehouses line the waterfront. 江岸新建的仓库鳞次栉比。

11 clogged   

（使）阻碍( clog的过去式和过去分词 )； 淤滞

参考例句：

• The narrow streets were clogged with traffic. 狭窄的街道上交通堵塞。
• The intake of gasoline was stopped by a clogged fuel line. 汽油的注入由于管道阻塞而停止了。

12 oversupply   

n.供应过量；v.过度供给

参考例句：

• The market softened because of oversupply.市场因供过于求而疲软。
• Overexpansion of tea fields has led to oversupply.茶园过度扩张，使得市场上逐渐供过于求。

13 distress   

n.苦恼，痛苦，不舒适；不幸；vt.使悲痛

参考例句：

• Nothing could alleviate his distress.什么都不能减轻他的痛苦。
• Please don't distress yourself.请你不要忧愁了。

14 devoted   

adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的

参考例句：

• He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
• We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。

15 oversupplying   

v.过度供给( oversupply的现在分词 )

参考例句：