经济学人:因病施治,对症下药(1)

 Finance and Economics 财经

Free exchange: A lost decade 自由交流：失去的十年

Governments prevented a second Depression, but left the world vulnerable. 各国政府防止了二次衰退。但是，却让世界变得脆弱不堪。

Ten years ago this month, America entered the “Great Recession”. 十年前的这个月，美国步入了“大衰退”。

A decade on, the recession occupies a strange space in public memory. 十年后的今天，这场衰退在公共记忆中占据着一处奇怪的空间。

Its toll¹ was clearly large. 它的损失显然是巨大的。

America suffered a cumulative² loss of output estimated at nearly $4trn, and its labour markets have yet to recover fully³. 美国遭受了估计将近4万亿美元的累计产出损失。

But the recession was far less bad than it might have been, thanks to the successful application of lessons from the Depression. 但是，由于得自大萧条经验教训的成功应用，衰退远不如可能的那样严重。

Paradoxically, that success spared governments from enacting⁴ bolder reforms of the sort  吊诡的是，这种成功反而使得各国政府免于实施那种

that might make the Great Recession the once-a-century event economists⁵ thought such calamities⁶ should be. 或许会让大衰退成为经济学家认为此类灾难理应是百年一遇事件的更大胆的改革。

Good crisis response treats its symptoms; the symptoms of a disease, after all, can kill you. 好的危机应对，因病施治，对症下药；毕竟，病症可能置人于死地。

On that score today's policymakers did far better than those of the 1930s. 在这一点上，今天的决策者要比上世纪30年代的决策者做得好得多。

Government budgets have become a much larger share of the economy, thanks partly to the rise of the modern social safety net. 政府预算已然成为了一种大了很多的经济占比，这部分是拜当今的社会保障网所赐。

Consequently, public borrowing and spending on benefits did far more to stabilise the economy than they did during the Depression. 因而，社会福利上的公共举债和开支为稳定经济起到了比它们在大萧条期间更大的作用。

Policymakers stepped in to prevent the extraordinary collapse⁷ in prices and incomes experienced in the 1930s. 决策者介入了进来，以防止在上世纪30年代曾经经历过的价格和收入方面的大崩溃。

They also kept banking⁸ panics from spreading, which would have amplified⁹ the pain of the downturn. 他们还控制住了或许会放大衰退痛苦的银行业的恐慌，使之未能外溢。

Though unpopular, the decision to bail¹⁰ out the financial system prevented the implosion¹¹ of the global economy. 尽管不受欢迎，救助金融体系的决定防止了全球经济的内爆。

But the success of those policies, and the relatively¹² bearable recession that resulted, allowed governments to avoid more dramatic interventions¹³ of the sort which,  但是，这些政策的成功以及由此所带来的相对可以承受的衰退却给了各国政府避免那种

after the 1930s, gave the world half a century of (relative) economic calm. 曾在上世纪30年代之后让世界获得了半个世纪的(相对)经济平静的更加剧烈的干预。

 

1 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

2 cumulative   

adj.累积的，渐增的

参考例句：

• This drug has a cumulative effect.这种药有渐增的效力。
• The benefits from eating fish are cumulative.吃鱼的好处要长期才能显现。

3 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

4 enacting   

制定（法律），通过（法案）( enact的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Generally these statutes apply only to wastes from reactors outside the enacting state. 总之，这些法令只适宜用在对付那些来自外州的核废料。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• In addition, the complexion of enacting standards for live working is described. 另外，介绍了带电作业标准的制订情况。

5 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》

6 calamities   

n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事

参考例句：

• They will only triumph by persevering in their struggle against natural calamities. 他们只有坚持与自然灾害搏斗，才能取得胜利。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• One moment's false security can bring a century of calamities. 图一时之苟安，贻百年之大患。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

7 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

8 banking   

n.银行业，银行学，金融业

参考例句：

• John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
• He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

9 amplified   

放大，扩大( amplify的过去式和过去分词 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• He amplified on his remarks with drawings and figures. 他用图表详细地解释了他的话。
• He amplified the whole course of the incident. 他详述了事件的全过程。

10 bail   

v.舀（水），保释；n.保证金，保释，保释人

参考例句：

• One of the prisoner's friends offered to bail him out.犯人的一个朋友答应保释他出来。
• She has been granted conditional bail.她被准予有条件保释。

11 implosion   

n.向内破裂，内爆

参考例句：

• The population explosion is accompanied by a population implosion.人口爆炸还伴随着人口爆聚。

12 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

13 interventions   

n.介入，干涉，干预( intervention的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Economic analysis of government interventions deserves detailed discussion. 政府对经济的干预应该给予充分的论述。 来自辞典例句
• The judge's frequent interventions made a mockery of justice. 法官的屡屡干预是对正义的践踏。 来自互联网