经济学人109:破产与经济 一个全新的开始

 　　Bankruptcy¹ and the economy

　　破产与经济

　　A fresh start

　　一个全新的开始

　　New evidence that rules for debtors² are too tough

　　新证据表明，对债务人的要求太苛刻

　　LAST year nearly 1m Americans filed for bankruptcy. That is far fewer than the number who used to seek bankruptcy protection before the law was made tougher a decade ago. This reform may have done more harm than good.The aim of bankruptcy law is to give people relief from unpayable debts. Some two-thirds of individual bankruptcies³ are due to a lost job. Many bankrupts need time to get back on their feet. In the mid-2000s Chapter 7 rules made it easy to wash away debts. That irritated credit-card firms, which claimed that spendthrifts abused the system; so in 2005 the law was toughened. The idea was to shift people to a Chapter 13 bankruptcy, where they would have to repay some of the debt.

　　去年，将近100万美国人申请破产。十年前，法律对于破产保护条件非常严苛，而那些曾经寻求破产保护的人数却远超过申请破产的人数。这项改革可能弊大于利。[破产法旨在帮助人们减轻无法偿还的债务。约有2/3的个体破产源于失业。许多人破产后需要一定时间才能从中恢复过来。21世纪中期，第七章规定有利于摆脱债务。这激怒了信用卡公司，并声称，“败家子们”滥用了系统；也因此2005年，法律变严格了。这样做的初衷是让人们适应第13章破产规定，即他们必须偿还一些债务。

　　The reform had a big impact. At least at first, Chapter 13 filings rose relative to Chapter 7 ones. And a new paper, from Stefania Albanesi, of the New York Federal Reserve, and Jaromir Nosal, of Columbia University, finds that the reform led to a permanent drop in the bankruptcy rate.

　　这项改革曾意义深远。至少，一开始，第13章文件与第7章文件相关联的。纽约联邦储备银行的Stefania Albanesi与哥伦比亚大学的Jaromir Nosal共同完成了一篇新的论文，指出这项改革实现了短暂的破产率降低。

　　破产问题.jpg

　　However, other recent research suggests that this is not necessarily a good thing. Will Dobbie, of Princeton University, and Jae Song, of the Social Security Administration, look at Chapter 13 bankruptcies before the reforms of 2005. They link half a million bankruptcy filings to tax records and use a novel technique to analyse them. Because some bankruptcy judges are more lenient⁴ than others, people in similar straits may end up with different bankruptcy decisions. This quirk⁵ allows some useful comparisons.

　　然而，其他最新研究表明，这未必是一件好事。普林斯顿大学的威尔·多比(Will Dobbie)与社会保障总署的宋杰（Jae Song）于2005年改革前就研究第13章破产法。他们认为，这100万人中有一半破产与税收记录有关，并且使用一项新技术对其进行分析。因为一些审判破产的法官网开一面，所以处于类似困境的人有可能会有不同的破产决议。像这样的案例带来了用价值的对比。

　　Messrs Dobbie and Song argue that easier bankruptcy laws have good microeconomic effects. If a creditor⁶ may no longer claim large chunks⁷ of a bankrupt's salary, that may increase his incentive⁸ to work—and decrease his need to slip out of town, change his job and close down his bank account. On average, those granted bankruptcy earned over 6,000 more in the subsequent year than similarly-placed plaintiffs who were rejected. The unlucky ones found it trickier⁹ to service their mortgages. Michelle White of the University of California, San Diego and colleagues found that bankruptcy reform caused the default rate on prime mortgages to rise 23%.

　　多比先生和宋先生辩解道，破产法越简单，其产生的微观经济效应越好。如果债权人不再索要大量破产者的薪水，如此一来，或许可以刺激他工作，而且他也不用搬去郊区、更换工作、关闭银行账户。与那些有类似遭遇且遭到拒绝的原告相比，这些有保障的破产，平均可以在接下来的一年里挣6千逾美元。倒霉的人发现越来越难偿还抵押贷款。圣地亚哥加利福尼亚大学的米歇尔·怀特以及其同事发现，破产法改革导致贷款市场的拖欠债务率上调了23%。

　　Making consumer-bankruptcy law more debtor-friendly could hit Americans in other ways. If lenders are exposed to bigger losses, some argue, interest rates for such things as credit cards are bound to rise. But that danger can be overstated. Credit-card companies may be reluctant to charge rates higher than their competitors' lest they attract the dodgiest customers—those not put off by high rates because they know that, with luck, they won't have to pay their debts back.

　　消费者—破产法越有利于债务人，越是在其他方面冲击美国人。一些人争辩道，倘若借出方蒙受更大的损失，类似信用卡的利率势必上涨。但是，这种担忧或许有点言过其实。信用卡公司或许不愿意改变高于对手的利率，唯恐竞争对手会偷偷吸引顾客——这些顾客深知，如果运气好，即使利率再高，他们也可以不用偿还债务。

　　Figures released on March 6th by the Federal Reserve show that consumer debt rose for the 41st straight month (see chart). With inflation low and wages weak, that is worrying. Ms White wants to roll back some of the reform of 2005, making bankruptcy cheaper. Whether that just increases profligacy¹⁰ remains¹¹ to be seen.

　　美国联邦储备局3月6日发布数据表明，消费者债务连续第41个月上升。通胀率低、工资减少，情况很不乐观。怀特小姐想把2005年改革压到最低标准，把破败变得更加廉价。此举是否助长享乐主义，仍为一个未知数。

1 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

2 debtors   

n.债务人，借方( debtor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• 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》
• Never in a debtors' prison? 从没有因债务坐过牢么？ 来自英汉文学 - 双城记

3 bankruptcies   

n.破产( bankruptcy的名词复数 )；倒闭；彻底失败；（名誉等的）完全丧失

参考例句：

• It's a matter of record that there were ten bankruptcies in the town last year. 去年这个城市有十家破产是事实。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Business bankruptcies rose 50 percent over the previous year. 破产企业的数量比前一年增加５０％。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

4 lenient   

adj.宽大的，仁慈的

参考例句：

• The judge was lenient with him.法官对他很宽大。
• It's a question of finding the means between too lenient treatment and too severe punishment.问题是要找出处理过宽和处罚过严的折中办法。

5 quirk   

n.奇事，巧合；古怪的举动

参考例句：

• He had a strange quirk of addressing his wife as Mrs Smith.他很怪，把自己的妻子称作史密斯夫人。
• The most annoying quirk of his is wearing a cap all the time.他最令人感到厌恶的怪癖就是无论何时都戴著帽子。

6 creditor   

n.债仅人，债主，贷方

参考例句：

• The boss assigned his car to his creditor.那工头把自己的小汽车让与了债权人。
• I had to run away from my creditor whom I made a usurious loan.我借了高利贷不得不四处躲债。

7 chunks   

厚厚的一块( chunk的名词复数 )； （某物）相当大的数量或部分

参考例句：

• a tin of pineapple chunks 一罐菠萝块
• Those chunks of meat are rather large—could you chop them up a bIt'smaller? 这些肉块相当大，还能再切小一点吗？

8 incentive   

n.刺激；动力；鼓励；诱因；动机

参考例句：

• Money is still a major incentive in most occupations.在许多职业中，钱仍是主要的鼓励因素。
• He hasn't much incentive to work hard.他没有努力工作的动机。

9 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

10 profligacy   

n.放荡，不检点，肆意挥霍

参考例句：

• Subsequently, this statement was quoted widely in the colony as an evidence of profligacy. 结果这句话成为肆意挥霍的一个例证在那块领地里传开了。 来自辞典例句
• Recession, they reason, must be a penance for past profligacy. 经济衰退，他们推断，肯定是对过去大肆挥霍的赎罪。 来自互联网

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。