曼昆十大经济学原理新解(中英文对照)

　　Mankiw’s Ten Principles of Economics, Translated for the Uninitiated

　　曼昆十大经济学原理，给不知情者的解释

　　by Yoram Bauman (revised June 12, 2002)

　　The cornerstone of Harvard professor N. Gregory Mankiw’s introductory economic textbook, Principles of Economics, is a synthesis of economic thought into Ten Principles of Economics. A quick perusal of these will likely affirm the reader’s suspicions that synthesizing economic thought into Ten Principles is no easy task, and may even lead the reader to suspect that the subtlety and concision required are not to be found in the pen of N. Gregory Mankiw.

　　哈佛教授N. 格利高里 曼昆撰写的经济学入门教材《经济学原理》把经济学思想总结为10个经济学原理。略略细读这些原理，读者可能就会产生疑问，觉得把经济学思想综合成10个经济学原理不是件容易的事，有时甚至会让读者对N. 格利高里 曼昆巧妙而简洁的总结产生怀疑。

　　I have taken it upon myself to remedy this unfortunate situation. The second table below summarizes my attempt to translate Mankiw’s Ten Principles into plain English, and in doing so to provide the uninitiated with an invaluable glimpse of the economic mind at work. Explanations and details can be found in the pages that follow, but the average reader is advised to simply cut out the table below and carry it around for assistance in the (hereafter unlikely) event of confusion about the basic Principles of Economics.

　　对于以上的疑问本人已做出一些修补。第二个列表是本人把曼昆的十大经济学原理总结翻译成通俗易懂的英语，这样可以让那些不懂经济的人很快就能了解经济思想。解释和具体说明在以下几页会提到，但建议每个读者把表格减下来，随身带着它，万一对基本的《经济学原理》又迷惑时(尽管以后不大可能)，它会有帮助的。

　　Mankiw’s Principle 曼昆的原理

　　#1 People face tradeoffs

　　人们面临权衡取舍

　　#2 The cost of something is what you give up to get it

　　某种东西的成本是为了得到它所放弃的东西

　　#3 Rational people think at the margin

　　理性人考虑边际量

　　#4 People respond to incentives

　　人们会对激励做出反应

　　#5 Trade can make everyone better off

　　贸易能使每个人状况更好

　　#6 Markets are usually a good way to organize economic activity

　　市场通常是组织经济活动的一种好方法

　　#7 Governments can sometimes improve market outcomes

　　政府有时可以改善市场结果

　　#8 A country’s standard of living depends on its ability to produce goods and service

　　一国的生活水平取决于它生产物品与劳务的能力

　　#9 Prices rise when the government prints too much money

　　当政府发行了过多货币时，物价上升

　　#10 Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment

　　社会面临通货膨胀与失业之间的短期权衡取舍

　　Yoram’s Translation Yoram的解释

　　#1 Choices are bad

　　选择是痛苦的

　　#2 Choices are really bad

　　选择实在是痛苦

　　#3 People are stupid

　　人们是愚蠢的

　　#4 People aren’t that stupid

　　人们也不是那样的愚蠢

　　#5 Trade can make everyone worse off

　　贸易能使每个人状况更糟糕

　　#6 Governments are stupid

　　政府是愚蠢的

　　#7 Governments aren’t that stupid

　　政府也不是那样的愚蠢

　　#8 Blah blah blah

　　废话，废话，废话

　　#9 Blah blah blah

　　废话，废话，废话

　　#10 Blah blah blah

　　废话，废话，废话

　　Explanations and Details 解释及具体说明

　　At first glance, the reader cannot but be impressed by the translation’s simplicity and clarity. Accessibility, however, should not be mistaken for shallowness: further study will reveal hidden depths and subtleties that will richly reward the attentive student. Indeed, a moment’s reflection will identify any number of puzzles and mysteries. Chief among them is probably this: Why do Principles #8, #9, and #10 have identical translations?

　　乍一看，读者可能只是觉得这种解释简洁，清晰，通俗易懂，但是不要就认为那是肤浅的：更深的研究会发现其隐含的深奥与巧妙，细心的学生会觉得受益匪浅。事实上，片刻的反思会让你识别出任何迷惑且神秘的数字。许多人可能会问：为什么原理8、9、10的解释是一样的?

　　The immediately obvious explanation is that these are macro-economic principles, and that I, as a micro-economist, am ill equipped to understand them, let alone translate them. As is often the case in this complex world we live in, this immediately obvious explanation is also wrong. The true reason I have provided identical translations of ”Blah blah blah” for Principles #8, #9, and #10 is that these principles say exactly the same thing, namely, “Blah blah blah.” Sometime when you've got a few hours to spare, go and ask an economist-preferably a macro-economist-what he or she really means by “standard of living” or “goods and services” or “inflation “or “unemployment” or “short-run” or even “too much.” You will soon realize that there is a vast difference between, say, what Principle #10 says “Society faces a short-run tradeoff between inflation and unemployment” -and what Principle #10means: “Society faces blah between blah and blah.” My translations are simply concise renderings of these underlying meanings.

　　比较显而易见的解释是这几个原理都是宏观经济的原理，而我作为一名微观经济学家，理解他们都难，更不用说解释他们了。因为我们所处的复杂世界里通常就是这样的，这种简单的解释是不合情理的。我把原理8、9、10解释成“废话，废话，废话”的真实原因是这些原理讲的是同一个内容，换句话说，就是“废话，废话，废话”。有时当你能抽出几个小时，去问问经济学家—最好是宏观经济学家—问他或她“生活水平”或“物品与服务”或“失业”“短期”或甚至是“过多”是什么意思。你会发现彼此有很大的差异，如，原理10所说的“社会面临通货膨胀与失业之间的短期权衡取舍”，其意思就是指“社会面临废话与废话之间的废话”我的解释只是简洁地翻译出其潜在的意思。

　　Having cleared up that issue, let us go back to Mankiw’s

　　要弄明白这个问题，从头解释曼昆的原理

　　Principle #1: People face tradeoffs 原理1：人们面临权衡取舍

　　Translation: Choices are bad 解释： 选择是错误的

　　The reasoning behind this translation is obvious. For example, imagine that somebody comes up to you and offers you a choice between a Snickers bar and some M&Ms. You now have a tradeoff, meaning that you have to choose one or the other. And having to trade one thing off against another is bad; President Truman supposedly asked for a one-armed economics advisor because his two-armed economics advisors were always saying, “On the one hand...but on the other hand...”

　　这种解释的原因其实是显而易见的。例如，想象一下，某个人让你在士力架巧克力棒与M&Ms的巧克力产品之间做个选择。现在你面临着权衡取舍，意味着你只能选择其中一个。这种须放弃其一的不得已选择是痛苦的;想必杜鲁门总统很需要一位独臂的经济学顾问因为他的双臂经济学顾问经常是“一方面……但另一方面……”

　　People who have not received any economics education might be tempted to think that choices are good. They aren't. The (mistaken) idea that choices are good perhaps stems from the (equally mistaken) idea that lack of choices is bad. This is simply not true, as Mancur Olson points out in his book, The Logic of Collective Action: “To say situation is ‘lost’ or hopeless is in one sense equivalent to saying it is perfect, for in both cases efforts at improvement can bring no positive results.”

　　没有学过经济学知识的人可能会认为选择是快乐的。实则不然，之所以有认为选择是快乐的(误解的)想法，也许是因为他们误认为缺乏选择才是痛苦的。这种绝对是正确的，如曼瑟尔·奥尔森在他的《集体行动的逻辑》书上指出的：“失败”或绝望的状态从某种意义上说等同于完美，对于那两种想法，意在试图改善，事实上并不能带来积极的效果。

　　Hence my translation of Mankiw's first principle of economics: Choices are bad. This concept can be a little difficult to grasp-nobody ever said economics was easy-but the troubled reader will undoubtedly gain clarity from Mankiw's

　　因此，我对曼昆的第一个原理的解释是：选择是痛苦的。这个概念可能不难理解—没有人认为经济学很容易—但困惑的读者可以通过阅读曼昆通俗易懂的原理变得清晰

　　Principle #2: The cost of something is what you give up to get it

　　原理2某种东西的成本是为了得到它所放弃的东西

　　Translation: Choices are really bad

　　解释：选择实在是痛苦

　　Beyond transforming Mankiw’s semantic deathtrap into simplicity itself, this translation has the advantage of establishing a connection between Principle #1 (Choices are bad) and Principle #2 (Choices are really bad).

　　除了把曼昆句子上的语义死陷阱转化成简洁的形式，这个解释还能把原理1(选择是痛苦的)与原理2(选择实在是痛苦)联系起来

　　To continue to deepen the reader’s understanding of why choices are bad-really bad-let's return to our previous example, in which somebody offers you a choice between a Snickers bar and a package of M&Ms. Suppose, for the sake of argument, that you take the M&Ms. According to Mankiw, the cost of those M&Ms is the Snickers bar that you had to give up to get the M&Ms. Your gain from this situation-what economists call “economic profit”-is