2020年经济学人 新冠疫情——检验资本主义的工具(1)

Political economy is a discipline in which rigorous empirical testing is difficult.

政治经济学是一门难以进行严格实证检验的学科。

Scholars are rarely presented with the kind of naturally occurring experiments which crop up in other fields of economic inquiry¹,

学者们很少能遇到像在其他经济研究领域那样突然出现的自然发生的实验，

such as when one state increases its minimum wage while its neighbours do not. Covid-19 is different.

比如当一个国家提高了最低工资，而邻国却没有的时候。新冠病毒则不同。

Though it is quite the cloud, for political economists³ the silver lining⁴ is that it provides an opportunity to look, in real time,

尽管乌云密布，但对政治经济学家而言，一线希望在于它提供了一个实时机会

at how different models of governance react to a simultaneous shock.

观察不同的管理模式是如何应对这个实时发生的冲击的。

Various taxonomies are used to categorise models of capitalism⁵.

用于归类资本主义模式的分类标准有很多。

A prominent one was set out in 2001 in "Varieties of Capitalism", a book edited by Peter Hall, a political scientist, and David Soskice, an economist².

最突出的一种出现在2001年《资本主义的多样性》一书中，该书编辑为政治学家Peter Hall以及经济学家David Soskice。

It distinguished⁶ between liberal market economies (LMES) such as America, Britain and Canada,

其区分了自由市场经济（LMES），如美国、英国和加拿大，

and co-ordinated market economies (CMES) such as Germany, the Nordic countries, Austria and the Netherlands.

以及协调市场经济体（CMES），如德国、北欧国家、奥地利和荷兰。

LMES' capitalism is redblooded, relying on market mechanisms⁷ to allocate⁸ resources and determine wages,

LMES的资本主义是活泼有力的，依赖于市场机制分配资源和决定薪酬，

and on financial markets to allocate capital. CMES, though still capitalist, are fonder of social organisations such as trade unions, and of bank finance.

并依赖金融市场分配资本。而虽然仍是资本主义者，但CMES更喜欢社会组织，如工会，以及喜欢银行融资。

Western economies tend to sit on a continuum between these two models.

西方经济体往往处于这两种模式之间的连续统一体上。

In recent years scholars have also tried to account for the authoritarian⁹, state-driven capitalism found some other countries.

近几年，学者们也尝试解释一些其他国家独裁主义的、国家驱动的资本主义。

Branko Milanovic of the City University of New York calls this model "political capitalism".

纽约市立大学的Branko Milanovic称这种模式为“政治资本主义”。

These frameworks are surprisingly good at parsing¹⁰ countries' responses to the pandemic. Consider innovation.

这些框架在分析各国对这一流行病的反应方面出奇地出色。考虑到创新性。

Scholars distinguish between incremental¹¹ innovation, the continuous process of making marginal improvements to products and processes,

学者们将渐进性创新（对产品和流程进行边际改进的连续过程）

and radical¹² innovation, which may involve the launch of entirely¹³ new goods and services.

以及根本性创新（这可能包括推出全新的商品和服务）进行了区分。

Whereas CMES, with their emphasis on specific skills and long-term thinking, should be better at incremental innovation,

而强调特殊技能以及长期思考的CMES应该更擅长渐进性创新，

they are at a disadvantage when it comes to radical innovation.

在根本性创新方面，他们处于劣势。

They are constrained¹⁴ by the structures they have erected¹⁵ to steer¹⁶ the economy, which are slow to adapt to wholesale¹⁷ change.

他们为了驾驭经济而建立的结构限制了他们，这些结构对大规模变革的适应很慢。

1 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

2 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。

3 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》

4 lining   

n.衬里，衬料

参考例句：

• The lining of my coat is torn.我的外套衬里破了。
• Moss makes an attractive lining to wire baskets.用苔藓垫在铁丝篮里很漂亮。

5 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

6 distinguished   

adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的

参考例句：

• Elephants are distinguished from other animals by their long noses.大象以其长长的鼻子显示出与其他动物的不同。
• A banquet was given in honor of the distinguished guests.宴会是为了向贵宾们致敬而举行的。

7 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 allocate   

vt.分配，分派；把…拨给；把…划归

参考例句：

• You must allocate the money carefully.你们必须谨慎地分配钱。
• They will allocate fund for housing.他们将拨出经费建房。

9 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

10 parsing   

n.分[剖]析，分解v.从语法上描述或分析（词句等）( parse的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• A parsing program, or parser, is also called a recognizer. 分析过程又称作识别程序。 来自辞典例句
• This chapter describes a technique for parsing using the bottom-up method. 本章介绍一种使用自底向上方法的分析技术。 来自辞典例句

11 incremental   

adj.增加的

参考例句：

• For logic devices, the incremental current gain is very important. 对于逻辑器件来说，提高电流增益是非常重要的。 来自辞典例句
• By using an incremental approach, the problems involving material or geometric nonlinearity have been solved. 借应用一种增量方法，已经解决了包括材料的或几何的非线性问题。 来自辞典例句

12 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

13 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

14 constrained   

adj.束缚的,节制的

参考例句：

• The evidence was so compelling that he felt constrained to accept it. 证据是那样的令人折服，他觉得不得不接受。
• I feel constrained to write and ask for your forgiveness. 我不得不写信请你原谅。

15 ERECTED   

adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立

参考例句：

• A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
• A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。

16 steer   

vt.驾驶，为…操舵；引导；vi.驾驶

参考例句：

• If you push the car, I'll steer it.如果你来推车，我就来驾车。
• It's no use trying to steer the boy into a course of action that suits you.想说服这孩子按你的方式行事是徒劳的。

17 wholesale   

n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售

参考例句：

• The retail dealer buys at wholesale and sells at retail.零售商批发购进货物，以零售价卖出。
• Such shoes usually wholesale for much less.这种鞋批发出售通常要便宜得多。