2019年经济学人 市场支配力 (1)

 

Physicists¹' quest for a "theory of everything" is well-known.

物理学家对“万有理论”的追求人尽皆知。

The equivalent in economics is the hunt for common causes for the rich-world macroeconomic trends of the past decade or so:

经济学中的万有理论是追寻过去十多年中发达国家宏观经济趋势的普遍原因：

a shrinking share of the economic pie for workers, disappointing investment and lacklustre productivity growth.

工人经济蛋糕份额的萎缩、令人失望的投资记忆呆滞的生产率增长。

These must be reconciled with low interest rates, pockets of technological² advance and juicy returns for investors³ willing to take risks.

这些必须与低利率、技术进步的空间以及投资者愿意冒风险的丰厚回报和解。

The leading economic theory of everything is that competition has weakened as markets have become more concentrated.

主要的万有理论经济理论是竞争随着市场变得越来越集中而被削弱。

Unlike firms in competitive markets, monopolies limit production in order to keep prices and profits high.

和竞争市场中的公司不同，为了保持高价格和高利润，垄断限制了生产。

They can therefore be expected to restrain their investment, too.

因此，他们也有可能限制他们的投资。

They might still be innovative—with monopoly profits up for grabs, why not be?—but market power usually makes economies less productive overall.

他们仍可以是有创造力的—垄断利润大家都有份，为什么不呢？—但是市场支配力通常会让经济整体生产力更低。

And monopolies have many opportunities to take bites out of labour's share of the pie.

垄断有很多吞食劳动者蛋糕份额的机会。

Their high profits typically flow to investors, not workers. Their high prices eat into the purchasing power of wages.

它们的高利润通常流向了投资者而非员工。它们的高价格耗费了工资购买力。

Their bargaining clout⁴ may even allow them to suppress pay directly.

它们的讨价还价的影响力甚至可以让它们直接抑制工资。

On April 3rd the IMF provided the latest evidence for parts of this theory.

4月3日，IMF提供了该理论的部分最新证据。

In a new study the fund's economists⁶ examined the markups over marginal cost—

在一项新研究中，IMF的经济学家调查了超过边际成本的利润—

one proxy⁷ for market power—charged by over 900,000 firms in 27 countries.

市场支配力的一个替代—该利润由27个国家中的九十万家公司收取。

They found that markups rose by 8% on average between 2000 and 2015.

他们发现在2000年和2015年间，利润平均增长8%。

In findings consistent with earlier analyses by The Economist⁵,

在与本刊早期分析相一致的发现中，

the fund concluded that market power has risen notably⁸ in America

IMF总结得出市场支配力在美国显著增加

and by a smaller amount in Europe, and largely affected⁹ industries other than manufacturing (kept fiercely competitive by trade).

在欧洲小量增加，且极大地影响了工业和制造业（通过贸易保持激烈地竞争力）。

1 physicists   

物理学家( physicist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• For many particle physicists, however, it was a year of frustration. 对于许多粒子物理学家来说，这是受挫折的一年。 来自英汉非文学 - 科技
• Physicists seek rules or patterns to provide a framework. 物理学家寻求用法则或图式来构成一个框架。

2 technological   

adj.技术的；工艺的

参考例句：

• A successful company must keep up with the pace of technological change.一家成功的公司必须得跟上技术变革的步伐。
• Today,the pace of life is increasing with technological advancements.当今， 随着科技进步，生活节奏不断增快。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 clout   

n.用手猛击；权力，影响力

参考例句：

• The queen may have privilege but she has no real political clout.女王有特权，但无真正的政治影响力。
• He gave the little boy a clout on the head.他在那小男孩的头部打了一下。

5 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

6 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 proxy   

n.代理权，代表权；（对代理人的）委托书；代理人

参考例句：

• You may appoint a proxy to vote for you.你可以委托他人代你投票。
• We enclose a form of proxy for use at the Annual General Meeting.我们附上委任年度大会代表的表格。

8 notably   

adv.值得注意地，显著地，尤其地，特别地

参考例句：

• Many students were absent,notably the monitor.许多学生缺席，特别是连班长也没来。
• A notably short,silver-haired man,he plays basketball with his staff several times a week.他个子明显较为矮小，一头银发，每周都会和他的员工一起打几次篮球。

9 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。