Summary

通常认为物价是由市场供需决定的. 实际情况则是因时因地不同, 物价往往受政府管控.多数发展中国家会进行物价监管, 而一个国家一旦开始启用物价监管, 后期想要取消它又变得异常棘手.世界银行经济学家认为最好一开始就不要使用物价管控.

Also known as that prices are determined by market supply and demand. But real story is by some times and places, prices have instead been set by the blades of government response and political pressure. It's exceedingly hard to removal price controls after a country has inposed it. According to the World Bank economists, it's better not to have it at the begging.

Vocabularies

1. impose
2. price control
3. instead
4. deploy
5. The World Bank
6. Hummerabi Code
7. blades of a pair of scissors
8. developing economics
9. force
10. switch back and force
11. elaborate
12. lettuce
13. guidelines
14. redistribute, stabilise and deflate(再分配, 稳定与紧缩)
15. unstoppable inflation
16. scarcity
17. spur
18. scramble
19. struggled to find sth
20. 

Context

经济学家认为, 价格是由供需决定的, 就像剪刀的双刃一样. 但这还不是全部. 在很多时期和地方, 经济反而是由政治压力和政府回应的钝刀所决定的.

According to economists, prices are determined by supply and demand, acting like the twin blades of a pair of scissors. That is not the whole story. In many times and places, prices have instead been set by the blunter blades of political pressure and government response.

现存最古老的文献之一"汉莫拉比法典"中包括了详尽的价格和工资控制: 划艇每天2.5粒银, 体力劳动者每天6粒.

One of the oldest texts, Hummerabi Code, includes elaborate price and wage controling: 2.5 grains of silver per day for rowing boat, 6 for labourer.

在历史的另一端, 1月7日, 阿根迁政府更新了其特价监管措施名单, 为超过300种超市产品制定了参考价格, 包括生菜, 超薄避孕套和一种传统茶类饮料.

At the other end of history, January 7th, Argentina's government updated its list of precios cuidados(managed prices), setting guidelines for over 300 supermarket include lettuce(生菜), ultra-thin condoms and mate, and a traditional tea-like drinking.

通过手机应用, 消费者可以报告任何缺货商品或任何低于政府参考价格的商品.

Via mobile phone app, consumers can report any products that are missing from shelves or any prices that are managed less tightly than government would like.

根据世界银行收集的新数据, 89%的发展中国家都会干预能源价格, 76%会干预食品价格, 13%会干预建筑材料价格.

According to new data collected by the World Bank, 89% developing economics meddled with prices of energy, 76% with prices of foodstuff, 13% with prices of construction materials.

例如, 布基纳法索会管制水泥, 薄板和钢筋的价格. 政府通常会以这三个理由之一作为实施价格管制的原因: 为了再分配, 稳定或紧缩.

Birkina Faso, for example, are controling the cement, sheet table and reinforcing bars. Government generally impose precio cuidados for one of the three reasons: redistribute, stabilise and deflate.

价格上限帮助穷人购买生活必需品; 最低价格支撑着农民的生计. 缓冲库存想要稳定波动的大宗商品价格, 尤其是当农民在市场青睐的作物与不受市场青睐的作物之间来回转换的成本很高时. 控制也被用于对抗通货膨胀. 阿根廷上一任总统毛里西奥马克里, 曾希望可以淡化他的前任克里斯蒂娜, 费尔南德斯基推出的物价监控措施, 但不可遏制的通货膨胀反而保全他更进一步, 在2019年冻结了60多种必需品的价格.

Price caps help poor afford neccessities of life; price floors prop up livelihoods of farmers. Buffer stocks try to stabilise volatile commodity prices, especially if it is costly for farmers switch back and forth crops between fall in and out of market favour. Controling have also been deployed to fight inflation. Argentina's pre president, had hoped to downplay precios cuidados which introduced by predessecor, but unstoppable inflation prompted him instead to go further, freezing prices in 2019 for over 60 essential goods.

无处不在的价格管制表明, 经济学家的影响力不如众人所认为的那么大.

The ubiquity price controling shows that economists have less influences than many people think.

很少有措施像这个行业那样不受欢迎, 这个行业认为价格既是商品稀缺的信号, 又是克服商品稀缺的激励. 管制它们会扰乱信号, 消弱刺激. 最低价格导致食品在仓库中腐烂.

Few measures, are as unpopular with the profession, which sees prices as both a signal of scarcity and a spur to overcome it. Controlling them scrambles the signal and blunts the spur. Price floors result in food rotting in warehouses.

限额会导致投资不足, 囤积和黑市交易. 国内稳定物价的努力可能会加剧国外的波动. 例如, 出口禁令迫使农民在国内出售粮食, 加剧了全球粮食短缺.

Ceilings lead to underinvestment, hoarding and black trading. Efforts to stabilise prices at home can increase volatility abroad. Export bans, for example, force farmers sell domestically, worsening global shortages.

世界银行估计,在2010到2011年, 政府试图使他们的国家不受更高的食品价格的影响, 这占了世界小麦价格上涨原因的40%.

The World Bank reckons that governments' attempts to insulate their countries from higher food prices accounted for 40% of the increase in world wheat price in 2010- 11.

不实施价格管制的一个原因是, 价格管制很难取消. 世行"全球经济展望"报告的主要作者之一表示:

One reason not to impose price controls is that they are so hard to remove. "We struggled to find an example where it has gone very smoothly,"

我们很难找到一个进展非常顺利的例子. 去年圣地亚哥地铁票上涨了30比索(0.04美元),引发了广泛的动乱, 智利军队走上街头, 造成29人死亡. 当取消价格管制时, 它有助于把握正确的时机. 有了上限, 最好在市场价格较低时采取行动.

says Franziska Ohnsorge, a lead author of the bank's "Global Economic Prospects" report. A fare increase last year on Santiago's metro of 30 pesos was trigger for widespread unrest, that brought Chiles's army on the streets and resulted in 29 deaths. When removing price controls, it helps to get the timing right. With ceilings, it is best to act when market prices are low.

科特迪瓦, 墨西哥和卢旺达利用2014年后油价下跌的机会减少了燃料补贴. 世行还建议将取消价格管制和抵消措施联系起来以帮助需要的人.

Ivory Coast, Mexico and Rwanda took advantage of the oil-price slump after 2014 to reduce their fuel subsidies. The bank(特指前文中出现 过的世界银行) also recommends linking the removal of price controls with offsetting measures to help the needy.

例如, 埃及在提高燃气, 石油和电力价格后, 健康和教育上的支出也随之增加. 但并不是每一人都满意. 很多知道更高价格会伤害到自己的人不相信高社会支出会帮助他们.

Egypt, for examples, increased spending on health and education after raising prices for gas, petrol and electricity. But not everyone was appeased. Many people who know that higher prices will hurt them doubt that higher social spending will ever help them.

2010年, 伊朗试图通过向家庭提供资金以补偿燃料补贴的减少来克服这种怀疑. 一个巧妙的转变是, 它首先支付转账, 将钱存入锁定的账户, 直到价格上涨.

In 2010, Iran tried to overcome such scepticism by giving money to households to compensate them for a reduction in fuel subsidies. In an ingenious twist, it paid the transfers first, depositing the money in accounts that were locked until prices were lifted.

前世界银行经济学家Shanta Devarajan认为这是其他国家应该吸取的教训. 不幸的是, 似乎伊朗自己已经忘了. 在11月, 其突然大幅提高了燃料价格.

It is a lesson other countries should head, argues Shanta Devarajan, a former World Bank economists. Unfortunately, Iran itself seems to have forgotten it. In November it raised fuel prices sharply and suddenly.

抗议者涌上街头. Ohnsorge女士称, "取消这些控制非常困难". "最好是一开始就不要进行价格管制".

Protesters poured onto the streets. "It's very hard to remove these controls" says Ms Ohnsorge, "It's better not to have them in the first place"