第三编 货币与银行
第十五章 银行的业务
概要
A banker is one who lends out other people’s money; a capitalist lends out his or her own money. The business of banking falls into two distinct categories: (1) the negotiation of credit through the loan of other people’s money and (2) the granting of credit through the issue of fiduciary media.
银行家把别人的货币借给其他人，资本家把自己的货币借给其他人。银行业务分为两大类：（1）通过借用他人的货币来进行信贷融通；（2）通过发行信用媒介来授予信贷。
In their role as negotiator of credit (or credit intermediaries), banks borrow from lenders at a certain rate of interest and then lend it to borrowers at (what promises to be) a higher rate of interest.
作为信贷（或信用媒介）的议付者，银行以一定的利率向贷方借款，然后以（可能）更高的利率借给借款人。
Credit transactions involve the exchange of present for future goods. Credit transactions can be divided into two groups: (1) Those in which one party has the benefit of obtaining a good in the present while the other party has the disadvantage of providing a good in the present, and (2) those in which one party has the benefit of obtaining a good in the present while the other party does not suffer any corresponding disadvantage. Loans of the first type (in which the lender actually renounces the use of his money) involve commodity credit while loans of the second type (in which the bank issues fiduciary media) involve circulation credit.
信用交易涉及将现在的商品换成未来的商品。信用交易可分为两类：（1）一方在当前有获得商品的受益，而另一方在当前有提供商品的损失的交易；（2）一方在当前有获得商品的受益，而另一方则没有遭受任何相应的不利影响。第一种类型的贷款（贷方实际上放弃使用其货币）涉及商品信贷，而第二种类型的贷款（银行发行信用媒介）涉及流通信贷。
The crucial feature in loans of fiduciary media is that the original depositor is not engaged in a credit transaction. He retains the full use of his money, even as the bank lends it to someone else. This process increases the total amount of money in the broader sense.
信用媒介贷款的一个重要特征是原始存款人不参与信贷交易。即使银行把货币借给别人，他仍能完全保有这部分货币的使用权。这个过程增加了广义上的货币总量。
Only by recognizing the fundamental distinction between notes and current accounts that are either (a) backed versus (b) un- backed by money, can the economist hope to understand the broader role that fiduciary media play in economic cycles.
只有认识到票据和经常账户之间的根本区别，即（a）有准备金支持，而（b）没有准备金支持，经济学家才有希望理解信用媒介在经济周期中发挥的更广泛作用。
章节大纲
一、银行活动的类型
A banker is one who lends out other people’s money; a capitalist lends out his or her own money. The business of banking falls into two distinct categories: (1) the negotiation of credit through the loan of other people’s money and (2) the granting of credit through the issue of fiduciary media. (Recall that fiduciary media are notes and bank balances—claims on money—that are not actually covered by money in reserve.)
银行家把别人的货币借给其他人，资本家把自己的货币借给其他人。银行业务分为两大类：（1）通过借用他人的货币来进行信贷议付；（2）通过发行信用媒介来授予信贷。（回想一下，信用媒介是指票据和银行余额的货币索偿权，实际上并未被准备金覆盖。）
二、作为信用融通者的银行
In their role as negotiator of credit (or credit intermediaries), banks borrow from lenders at a certain rate of interest and then lend it to borrowers at (what promises to be) a higher rate of interest. In this activity, prudent banks will obey the golden rule by which their liabilities will not mature earlier than their assets. In other words, the banks should not “borrow short to lend long,” if they want to avoid the risk of insolvency. Following the golden rule, by matching the maturities of assets and liabilities, will not eliminate all risks of course, because any investment could go sour and the borrower default on the loan from the bank.
作为信贷（或信用媒介）的议付者，银行以一定的利率向贷方借款，然后以（可能）更高的利率借给借款人。在此活动中，审慎的银行将遵守黄金法则，根据该黄金法则，其负债不会早于资产到期。换句话说，如果银行想避免破产风险，就不应该“借短贷长”。遵循黄金法则，通过匹配资产和负债的期限，当然不会消除所有风险，因为任何投资都可能出现问题，借款人也会拖欠银行贷款。
三、作为信用媒介发行者的银行
Credit transactions involve the exchange of present for future goods. Credit transactions can be divided into two groups: (1) Those in which one party has the benefit of obtaining a good in the present while the other party has the disadvantage of providing a good in the present, and (2) those in which one party has the benefit of obtaining a good in the present while the other party does not suffer any corresponding disadvantage. This second class of credit transactions is possible when a creditor issues fiduciary media; this person lends without really giving anything up. Loans of the first type (in which the lender actually renounces the use of his money) involve commodity credit while loans of fiduciary media involve circulation credit.
信用交易涉及将现在的商品换成未来的商品。信用交易可分为两类：（1）一方在当前有获得商品的受益，而另一方在当前有提供商品的损失的交易；（2）一方在当前有获得商品的受益，而另一方则没有遭受任何相应的不利影响。当债权人发行信用媒介时，第二类信用交易是可能的。这个人放贷时并没有真正放弃任何东西。第一种类型的贷款（贷方实际上放弃使用其货币）涉及商品信贷，而信用媒介的贷款涉及流通信贷。
For all goods, an absolutely secure and immediately redeemable claim will inherit the market value of the good itself. However, what makes fiduciary media special is that they can indefinitely function as money substitutes, since (unlike all other goods) nobody ever is the final “consumer” of money proper. Therefore, claims to it can circulate in the community without ever being redeemed, which allows the banks to issue fiduciary media in the first place.
对于所有商品，绝对安全且可立即赎回的债权将继承商品本身的市场价值。然而，使信用媒介与众不同的是，它们可以无限期地充当货币替代者，因为（与所有其它商品不同）没有人是货币的最终“消费者”。因此，对它的债权可以在社区中流通而无需被赎回，这使得银行可以在第一时间发行信用媒介。
四、作为流通信用来源的存款
The issue of fiduciary media is intimately connected with the deposit system. A customer will deposit actual money with the bank, which then is the basis upon which fiduciary media (i.e., unbacked claims to money) are issued. The crucial feature in these operations is that economically speaking, the original depositor is not engaged in a credit transaction. He is not lending the bank his money, but is merely depositing it, because he still retains the full economic use of his money in the present. Therefore by granting new loans on top of such deposits, the banks increase the total amount of money in the broader sense. They are not mere credit intermediaries, but instead are granting the economic use of money to a new group, without taking it away from the original group.
信用媒介的问题与存款制度密切相关。客户将实际货币存入银行，然后银行将以此为基础发行信用媒介（即无担保的货币债权）。这些业务的关键特点是，从经济上来讲，原始储户不从事信贷交易。他不是将货币借给银行，而只是将其存入银行，因为他现在仍然保留着这些货币的全部经济用途。因此，通过在这些存款的基础上发放新的贷款，银行增加了广义上的货币总量。他们不仅仅是信贷中介机构，而是在不将货币从原来的群体手中夺走的情况下，将其经济用途授予了一个新的群体。
五、流通信用的提供
The specific method of issuance of fiduciary media is irrelevant for its effects on the value of money. The bank might (1) literally lend out the original depositor’s money (while the original depositor still believes he has full and immediate claim to it), (2) issue other bank clients banknotes which may be redeemed with the depositor’s money, or (3) grant new loans in the form of checkbook accounts, with the depositor’s money serving as part of the reserves behind the new loan. [NOTE: A full description of the accounting of fractional-reserve banking is available in the lecture, “The Theory of Central Banking,” at: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=6HAEPSt_12U]
信用媒介发行的具体方式与其对货币价值的影响无关。银行可以（1）直接将原始储户的货币贷出去（同时原始储户仍然认为自己有全额和立即的索取权）；（2）向其他银行客户发行可以用储户的货币赎回的钞票，或者（3）以支票帐户的形式发放新的贷款，而存款人的钱将作为新贷款的准备金的一部分。[注：有关部分准备金银行的会计处理的详细说明，请参见“中央银行理论”讲座，网址为：[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HAEPSt_12U]
Some writers treat the expansion of banks’ note-issue as akin to an increase in the community’s demand for credit. But if the community tries to borrow more, perhaps by issuing more bills of exchange, then the interest rate tends to go up. In contrast, the bank supplies credit: when it issues more notes, the rate of interest (at least initially) goes down.
一些作家认为，银行纸钞发行规模的扩大，类似于社区对信贷需求的增加。但是如果社区试图借更多（也许是通过发行更多的纸钞），那么利率就会上升。相反，银行提供信贷：当它发行更多的纸钞时，利率（至少在最初）会下降。
六、信用媒介和间接信用交易的本质
Only by recognizing the fundamental distinction between notes and current accounts that are either (a) backed versus (b) unbacked by money, can the economist hope to understand the broader role that fiduciary media play in economic cycles. On the other hand, it is also a mistake to deny fiduciary media’s ability to facilitate indirect exchanges. When someone sells a commodity for a banknote, and then uses the banknote to purchase another commodity, this is an indirect exchange just as surely as if the person had used money proper.
只有认识到纸钞和活期账户之间有根本区别，即（a）有资金支持和（b）没有货币支持，经济学家才有希望理解信用媒介在经济周期中发挥的更广泛的作用。另一方面，否认信用媒介促进间接交易的能力也是错误的。当某人出售一种商品换取纸钞，然后用该纸钞购买另一种商品时，这无疑是一种间接交易，就如此人使用货币一般。
重要贡献
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In the beginning of this chapter, Mises divides banking into two categories: the negotiation of credit through the loan of other people’s money, and the issue of fiduciary media. (Murray Rothbard, in his work on banking, classifies the two activities as loan banking versus deposit banking.) Although other writers are familiar with these concepts, Mises shone a spotlight on the distinction and will go on to point out the problems with the issue of fiduciary media (i.e., deposit banking) that some earlier economists had discovered.
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在本章的开头，米塞斯将银行业务分为两类：通过借用他人的货币进行信用融通以及信用媒介问题。（Murray Rothbard在其关于银行业的著作中，将这两种业务分类为贷款银行业务与存款银行业务。）尽管其他作者熟悉这些概念，但Mises聚焦于这两种业务的区别，并将继续指出一些早期经济学家发现的信用媒介（即存款银行）的问题所在。
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Continuing with the previous note, Mises explains his settling on the terms commodity credit and circulation credit on pages 264–65. Precisely because he believes the issuance of fiduciary media play such a crucial role in the boom-bust cycle in market economies, Mises is designing his theoretical edifice to highlight the phenomenon.
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继续之前的注解，米塞斯在（英文版）第264-65页上解释了他对商品信贷和流通信贷这两个术语的处理方式。正是因为他认为，信用媒介的发行在市场经济的繁荣与萧条周期中起着至关重要的作用，所以米塞斯正在设计他的理论体系来强调这一现象。
新术语
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Banker: A person who lends out other people’s money.
银行家：将别人的货币借给其他人的人。 -
Capitalist: A person who lends out his or her own money.
资本家：将自己的货币借给其他人的人。 -
Credit intermediaries: Institutions that act as “middlemen” between lenders and borrowers.
信贷中介机构：充当贷方和借方之间的“中间人”的机构。 -
Golden rule (of bank lending): Matching the maturities of assets and liabilities, so that the bank is not dependent on the ability to “roll over” maturing debt. If a bank does not follow the golden rule, increases in short-term interest rates can lead to disaster, when the bank must pay its own creditors while its assets are not yet due.
（银行贷款的）黄金法则：资产和负债的到期日相匹配，这样银行就不依赖于到期债务的“展期”能力。如果一家银行不遵循黄金法则，那么短期利率的提高可能导致灾难，银行必须在资产尚未到期的情况下偿还自己的债权人。 -
Commodity Credit: A loan granted through the renunciation of the use of present goods by the lender. Commodity credit may involve money certificates but not fiduciary media.
商品信贷：通过放贷人放弃使用现有商品而提供的贷款。商品信贷可能涉及货币凭证，但不涉及信用媒介。 -
Circulation Credit: A loan granted even though the lender does not sacrifice the use of present goods. Circulation credit involves the use of fiduciary media.
流通信贷：即使出借人不牺牲对现有商品的使用，也可以提供的贷款。流通信贷涉及信用媒介的使用。 -
Bill of exchange: A non-interest-bearing written order that binds one party to a pay a fixed sum of money to another party at a specified future date or upon demand. A bill of exchange is generally transferable through endorsement.
汇票：一种无息的书面指令，它约束一方在指定的未来日期或根据要求向另一方支付固定金额的货币。汇票通常可以经由背书转让。 -
Current accounts (in banking): Accounts held with a bank, giving the owner the ability to write drafts or withdraw money upon demand. (Today a standard “checking account” would be an example.)
活期账户（银行账户）：在银行开设的账户，使所有者能够根据需要开具汇票或取款。（如今存在的标准的“支票账户”就是一个例子。） -
Loan banking: Banking through the use of commodity credit, where the bank receives loans from one group of savers in order to itself make loans to another group of borrowers. The savers do not consider this money as part of their cash balances during the term of the loan to the bank.
贷款银行业务：利用商品信贷进行的银行业务，银行从一组储蓄者那里获得贷款，以便自己向另一组借款人提供贷款。在向银行提供贷款期间，储蓄者不会将这笔钱视为自己现金余额的一部分。 -
Deposit banking: Banking through the use of circulation credit, where the bank receives deposits into current accounts from one group of clients in order to make loans to another group of borrowers. The depositors consider this money to be part of their cash balances, even though much of it has been lent out to others.
存款银行业务：利用流通信贷进行的银行业务，银行从一组客户那里接受存款进入活期账户，以便向另一组借款人提供贷款。储蓄者认为这笔钱是其现金余额的一部分，尽管其中大部分已经借给了其他人。
研究问题
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Does Mises realize that modern banks perform other operations besides the two types of banking he mentions? (pp.261–62)
米塞斯是否意识到，除了他提到的两种类型的银行业务之外，现代银行还从事其他业务？（英文版第261-62页） -
Explain: “A person who has a thousand loaves of bread at his immediate disposal will not dare to issue more than a thousand tickets each of which gives its holder the right to demand at any time the delivery of a loaf of bread. It is otherwise with money.” (p. 267)
解释：“一个人如果有一千个面包可供即时支配，他就不敢发行一千张以上的面包券，每张面包券都赋予持有者随时兑换一个面包的权利。就货币而言，情况则不同。”（英文版第267页） -
Why does Mises say that fiduciary media “can therefore be created only by banks and bankers”? (p. 269)
米塞斯为什么说信用媒介“因此只能由银行和银行家创造”？（英文版第269页） -
How does the issue of fiduciary media affect the objective exchange value of money? (p. 268)
信用媒介问题如何影响货币的客观交换价值？ （英文版第268页） -
Explain: “[Credit circulation] loans are granted out of a fund that did not exist before the loans were granted.” (p. 271)
解释：“ [信贷流通]贷款是从发放贷款之前不存在的基金中发放的。” （英文版第271页）
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