第一编 货币的本质
第四章 货币和国家
摘要
Unless it resorts to outright socialism, the State must conform to the market. Its actions in the market are governed by the Laws of Price. In this respect, the State has more influence than any other entity, but this is due to the State’s enormous budget.
除非采用彻底的社会主义，否则国家必须顺应市场。它在市场上的行动受价格规律的支配。在这方面，国家比任何其它实体具有更大的影响力，但这是由于国家拥有巨额的预算。
In economics, money is a common medium of exchange. But from the legal point of view, money is a common medium of payment or debt settlement. Money can only serve this function (as a medium of debt settlement) because it is a medium of exchange. This is clear when we consider cases where a contract cannot be fulfilled as written, and so the court specifies a monetary payment instead.
在经济学中，货币是一般的交换媒介。但从法律角度来看，货币是一种普遍的支付或债务结算方式。货币之所以能起到这种功能（作为债务结算的媒介），只是因为它是一般的交换媒介。 当我们考虑到合同无法以书面形式履行的情况时，这一点是很明显的，因此法院指定了货币付款。
Government cannot force people to attribute a certain exchange value to a good. The legal system can certainly allow debtors to “satisfy” their contractual liabilities by paying with items at a face value higher than what the creditors actually believe they are worth, but this merely means a partial repudiation of the debt.
政府不能强迫人们把某一特定的交换价值归因于一种商品。法律制度当然可以允许债务人通过支付面值高于债权人实际认为其价值的物品来“清偿”其合同债务，但这仅仅意味着对债务的部分否定。
Originally the State’s only role in the monetary sphere was to supply recognizable coins that were hard to counterfeit and that were very similar in appearance, weight, and fineness. By producing suitable coins, the State was merely facilitating commerce, because merchants wouldn’t need chemical tests and scales to evaluate the gold or silver their customers presented in payment.
最初，国家在货币领域的唯一作用是提供难以伪造的，外观、重量和纯度非常相似的可识别硬币。通过生产合适的硬币，国家只是促进了商业活动，因为商人不需要通过化学测试和天平来评估他们的顾客在支付时提供的黄金或白银。
The State’s influence in the monetary sphere has grown because its size has grown, but also because of its control of the mint: The State can withdraw coins of one metal and replace them with coins of a different metal. The State also influences the monetary sphere through its ability to suspend the immediate redemption of money substitutes, converting them into credit money or even fiat money.
国家在货币领域的影响力之所以增长，是因为它的规模不断扩大，同时也是因为它控制了造币厂：国家可以使一种金属硬币停止流通，并用另一种金属硬币取而代之。国家还通过暂停货币替代品的立即赎回、将其转换为信用货币甚至法定货币的能力来影响货币领域。
章节大纲
一、国家在市场中的地位
Although it commands a large influence because of its power to tax, ultimately the State must conform to the market. Unless it completely abolishes private property and forms a socialist State, the government can only successfully change market prices through its own decisions to buy and sell. The same is true of money: mere government edicts cannot explain the purchasing power of a common medium of exchange.
虽然它因其税收权力而具有很大的影响力，但最终国家必须顺应市场。除非完全废除私有财产并形成社会主义国家，否则政府只能通过自己的买卖决策成功地改变市场价格。 同样的道理也适用于货币：单纯的政府法令无法解释一种通用交换媒介的购买力。
二、货币的法律概念
In economics, money is a common medium of exchange. But from the legal point of view, money is a common medium of payment or debt settlement. If a contract calls for one party to pay back a loan of “100 ounces of gold, plus 5 ounces in interest” in one year, the legal system must specify what types of goods are acceptable to satisfy the contract. (For example, must it be done in physical gold, or can a banknote or a check written on a bank account—denominated in gold—satisfy the debt? What about token coins that can be exchanged for gold?) However, money can only serve this function (as a medium of debt settlement) because it is a medium of exchange. This is clear when we consider cases where a contract cannot be fulfilled as written, and so the court specifies a monetary payment instead.
在经济学中，货币是一般的交换媒介。但从法律角度来看，货币是一种普遍的支付或债务结算方式。如果合同要求一方在一年内偿还“100盎司黄金，外加5盎司利息”的贷款，法律制度必须规定可接受的满足合同要求的商品类型。（例如，必须以实物黄金履约，还是银行账户上的以黄金计价的纸钞或支票能够清偿债务？可以兑换成黄金的代币呢？）然而，货币之所以能起到这种功能（作为债务结算的媒介），只是因为它是一般的交换媒介。当我们考虑到合同无法以书面形式履行的情况时，这一点是很明显的，因此法院指定了货币付款。
Government cannot force people to attribute a certain exchange value to a good. The legal system can certainly allow debtors to “satisfy” their contractual liabilities by paying with items at a face value higher than what the creditors actually believe they are worth, but this merely means a partial repudiation of the debt.
政府不能强迫人们把某一特定的交换价值归因于一种商品。法律制度当然可以允许债务人通过支付面值高于债权人实际认为其价值的物品来“清偿”其合同债务，但这仅仅意味着对债务的部分否定。
三、国家对货币制度的影响
Originally the State’s only role in the monetary sphere was to supply coins of the greatest possible degree of similarity in appearance, weight, and fineness. Furthermore, to do its task well the State would manufacture coins that were hard to counterfeit, and that bore a recognizable stamp. In this regard, the State wasn’t defining money, but was instead merely taking what the market had chosen as the money—for example, gold—and then producing hunks of the money in convenient shapes. By producing suitable coins, the State was merely facilitating commerce: if everyone recognized the State’s one-ounce gold coin, and knew that it was genuine, then merchants wouldn’t have to resort to chemical tests and scales to evaluate the yellow metal their customers presented in payment.
最初，国家在货币领域的唯一作用是提供在外观、重量和纯度上尽可能相似的硬币。此外，为了完成这个任务，国家将制造具有可辨识印章的难以伪造的硬币。在这方面，国家并没有定义货币，而是仅仅把市场所选择货币 - 例如黄金 - 从大块转换制成实用的形状。通过生产合适的硬币，国家只是促进了商业活动：如果每个人都认识国家制造的一盎司金币，并且知道它是真品，那么商人就不需要通过化学测试和天平来评估他们的顾客在支付时提供的黄金或白银。
The State’s influence in the monetary sphere has grown because its size (relative to the economy) has grown, but also because of its control of the mint. The State can exert great power over what its subjects choose as the common medium of exchange, since it can (for example) withdraw coins of one metal and replace them with coins of a different metal. Even so, the State cannot avoid the laws of economics. The failed attempts at bimetallist legislation—where the government established a fixed ratio between the value of gold and silver—showed the operation of Gresham’s Law. That is, when the actual market values of gold and silver deviated from the legal ratio, people would hoard the undervalued metal and try to spend the overvalued metal.
国家在货币领域的影响力之所以增长，是因为它的规模（相对于经济）不断扩大，同时也是因为它控制了造币厂。国家可以对其人民选择的通用交换媒介施加巨大的力量，因为它可以（例如）使一种金属硬币停止流通，并用另一种金属硬币取而代之。即便如此，国家也不能回避经济规律。复本位制者立法的失败尝试 - 政府在黄金和白银的价格之间建立固定比率 - 显示了格雷欣法则的运作。也就是说，当黄金和白银的实际市场价格偏离法定比率时，人们会囤积被低估的金属，并试图花掉被高估的金属。
The State also influences the monetary sphere through its ability to suspend the immediate redemption of money substitutes, converting them into credit money or even fiat money.
国家还通过暂停货币替代品的立即赎回、将其转换为信用货币甚至法定货币的能力来影响货币领域。
重要贡献
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Carl Menger’s explanation of the origin of money (laid out in chapter 1) offers a satisfactory rebuttal to the “State theory of money” offered by Knapp and other theorists. (p.73) If an Austrian economist disputes the theory that money derives its value from the State, the argument is more compelling if the Austrian can show—using Menger’s approach—how money arose spontaneously on the market.
卡尔·门格尔对货币起源的解释（见第一章）对克纳普和其他理论家提出的“国家货币理论”提供了令人满意的反驳。（英文版第73页）如果一位奥地利学派经济学家能够用门格尔的方法证明货币是如何在市场上自发产生的，那么当他/她对“货币的价值来自国家”这种理论提出异议时就更具说服力。 -
In this chapter we already see the benefit of Mises’s fastidious classification scheme regarding money. Armed with his categories of money substitutes, commodity money, and credit money, Mises can explain exactly how a State influences the money used by its subjects. While many others place great importance on State legislation regarding tax payments and debt contracts, Mises instead looks at the State’s role in minting coins and its power to change money substitutes into credit money (by suspending immediate redemption of the claims to money). (pp. 77–78)
在本章中，我们已经看到了米塞斯关于货币的挑剔分类方案的好处。凭借他对货币替代品，商品货币和信用资金的分类，米塞斯可以准确地解释一个国家如何影响其人民使用的货币。虽然许多其他人非常重视有关纳税和债务合同的国家立法，但米塞斯却关注国家在铸造硬币方面的作用，以及它将货币替代品转变为信用货币的权力（通过中止对货币索取权的立即赎回）。（英文版第77-78页）
新术语
Bimetallist legislation: Efforts by the government to establish a fixed conversion ratio between gold and silver. For example, the government might require that merchants who post a price in gold ounces, also accept payment in silver ounces at a fixed multiple of the gold price.
复本位制立法：政府努力在金银之间建立固定的兑换率。例如，政府可能要求以金盎司标价的商人，也接受以金价固定倍数的银盎司付款。
Gresham’s Law: Popularly summarized as “bad money drives out good,” the phenomenon by which people will hold money that is undervalued by legislation, and will spend the money that is overvalued by legislation. For example, if bimetallist legislation requires that merchants accept silver and gold at the ratio of 16-to-1, when in fact the actual market exchange rate is 20-to-1, then everyone will try to buy with silver, and no one will use gold for making purchases. Gold will seem to disappear, and only silver will be used in commerce. For a different example, if the government passes legal tender laws on all government-stamped coins, then coins with low metal value (such as U.S. quarters minted in the year 2000) will circulate in trade, whereas coins with high metal content (such as U.S. quarters minted in the year 1950) will be hoarded by people who recognize the value of the silver.
格雷欣法则：通常概括为“劣币驱逐良币”，即人们持有被立法低估的货币，并将被立法高估的货币花掉的现象。例如，如果复本位制立法要求商人以16比1的比率接受白银和黄金，当实际市场汇率为20:1时，那么每个人都会尝试用白银购买，没有人会用黄金购买。黄金似乎消失了，只有白银会被用于商业。另一个例子是，如果政府通过了使用所有政府盖章的硬币的法定货币法，那么金属含量低的硬币（如2000年铸造的25美分硬币）将在贸易中流通，而金属含量高的硬币（如1950年铸造的25美分硬币）将被认识到白银价值的人们囤积。
研究问题
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Explain: “When notes that are appraised commercially at only half their face-value are proclaimed legal tender, this amounts fundamentally to the same thing as granting debtors legal relief from half of their liabilities.” (p. 71)
解释：“当商业评估的票据只有一半面值被宣布为法定货币时，这本质上等同于给予债务人法定减免一半债务的做法。”（英文版第71页） -
Explain: “State declarations of legal tender affect only those monetary obligations that have already been contracted.” (p. 71)
解释：“法定货币的国家声明仅影响已经签约的货币债务。”（英文版第71页） -
What are the two mechanisms through which the “State’s influence on commercial usage, both potential and actual, has increased”? (pp. 72–73)
“国家对商业惯例的影响，无论是潜在的还是实际的，已经增加了。”的两种机制是什么？ （英文版第72-73页） -
Explain: “A country that wishes to persuade its subjects to go over from one precious-metal standard to another can not rest content with expressing this aspiration in appropriate provisions of the civil and fiscal law.” (p. 74)
解释：“如果一个国家希望说服其人民从一种贵金属本位制过渡到另一种贵金属本位制，那么就不能仅仅满足于在民法和财政法的适当条款中表达这种愿望。”（英文版第74页） -
Explain: “The parallel standard was thus turned, not into a double standard, as the legislators had intended, but into an alternative standard.” (p. 75)
解释：“这样，这种平行本位制就变成了一种双重本位制，而不是立法者所期望的本位制的替换。”（英文版第75页）
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