每日英语—欧洲经济不用布朗说三道四Brown has nothing to teach the eurozone economies
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欧洲经济不用布朗说三道四 Brown has nothing to teach the eurozone economies
英国财政大臣戈登•布朗(Gorden Brown)上周对欧元区经济横加指责。他在英国的《每日电讯报》(Daily Telegraph)上撰文写道，欧洲人僵硬、不灵活，在解决经济问题方面无能，而且只知道忙于协调各国间的税率。《每日电讯报》对欧洲总体上持怀疑态度。
Gordon Brown, the chancellor, last week put the boot into the economy of the eurozone. Europeans were rigid and inflexible, unable to solve their economic problems and obsessed with harmonising tax rates, he wrote in Britain\'s Eurosceptic Daily Telegraph.
考虑到布朗选择在这份刊物上发表自己的看法，他此举显然不是为了给欧元区各国的财政部长们提供有用的建议，而是与英国国内的政治有关。但是，即使单从他要说什么而不是为什么说这些话来判断，布朗先生提出的每个有实质意义的观点都是错误的。
Considering the publication in which Mr Brown chose to express his thoughts, this was not intended as helpful advice to fellow European finance ministers. This was clearly about domestic politics. But even judged purely on what he had to say - as opposed to why he said it - Mr Brown was wrong on every substantive point he made.
可以有很多理由对欧元区经济感到失望：政治领导软弱无力、生产率增长下滑、令人难以理解的财政政策和货币政策规则，以及共同体农业政策。过去11年里，英国经济增长的确强劲，财政和货币政策也比较稳定。但是，如果就此认为英国经济比欧洲大陆更强劲、更灵活，那么这样的结论将是错误的。用人均产出这样一个主要的可比经济指标来衡量，英国仍然落后于德国和法国。
There are many reasons for despair about the eurozone economy: weak political leadership, declining productivity growth, questionable rules governing the conduct of fiscal and monetary policy, and the common agricultural policy. It is also true that the UK has enjoyed strong economic growth and monetary and fiscal stability over the past 11 years. But it would be wrong to conclude that the UK has a stronger and more flexible economy than continental Europe. The UK still lags behind Germany and France on the main comparative measure of economic performance: output per capita.
欧元区确实存在经济增长率低的问题，但该区域并非没有竞争力。去年，欧元区的经常账户顺差占区内生产总值(GDP)的1.1%。德国取代美国成为世界上最大的出口国。而同期英国的经常账户却出现逆差，占GDP的0.8%。
The eurozone has a problem with low economic growth but it is not uncompetitive. Last year, it had a current account surplus of 1.1 per cent of gross domestic product. Germany overtook the US as the world\'s largest exporter. The UK, meanwhile, had a current account deficit of 0.8 per cent.
在就业方面，英国的情况要比欧元区国家稍微好些，但差别也没有各自国内失业率数字显示的那么大。根据经济合作和发展组织(OECD)的统计，2002年，德国的就业率为该国工作年龄人口的69.9%，英国为71.8%。
The UK scores marginally better on employment, but the difference is not as large as the respective national unemployment figures suggest. According to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the employment rate was 69.9 per cent of the working-age population in Germany and 71.8 per cent in the UK in 2002.
认为英国经济领先于欧元区国家这样的观点，是完全错误的。即使将来英国的产出超过法国和德国，欧元区是否该像布朗先生建议的那样效仿英国，也很难说。
The claim that the UK economy is ahead of the others is simply wrong. But even if UK output were to surpass that of France and Germany in the future, it is far from clear whether the eurozone should emulate the UK, as Mr Brown suggested.
在一个国家行得通的做法在另一国或许行不通。公众的偏好不同，财政政策的中央集权程度、劳动力结构，以及金融领域的状况也都不同。对于一个货币联盟来说，任何特定国家的经验甚至更不适用。
What works in one country may not work in another. Public preferences differ, as does the degree of centralisation in fiscal policy or structure of the labour force or the financial sector. The experiences of any particular country are even less applicable to a monetary union.
英国的财政政策框架便是一个例子，特别是所谓的“黄金规则”。该规则限定政府只能为筹措投资资金而借款。英国在整个经济周期循环中都应用了这一规则。它在英国行之有效，但如果用到欧元区国家，将是一个错误的财政政策管理工具。该规则要求对当前支出和投资的构成取得一致看法，并对一国经济在经济循环中所处位置有清晰的认识。欧元区经济体是一个新创立的货币联盟，拥有12个成员国，每个国家都有不同的国民收入核算标准，把该规则应用于这样的货币联盟，是难以想象的。
An example is the UK\'s fiscal policy framework, in particular the so-called \"golden rule\", which restricts government borrowing to finance investments. The rule is applied over the economic cycle. It has worked well in the UK but would be the wrong instrument of fiscal policy management in the eurozone. It requires agreement on what constitutes current spending and investment and a clear idea about the economy\'s position in the economic cycle. Try this in a newly created monetary union with 12 members, each with different national accounting standards.
布朗先生声称，自2001年以来，欧洲央行仅降息四次，而英国央行降息七次。他这样讲实在很奇怪。英国的名义利率几乎是欧元区的两倍，这一点他只字不提。而且实际利率也存在类似的差别。
Mr Brown\'s assertion that the European Central Bank has cut interest rates only four times since 2001, while the Bank of England has done so seven times, is bizarre. What he did not say was that nominal interest rates are almost twice as high in the UK. There is a similar gap in real rates.
英格兰银行比欧洲央行反应更快，这一点不假，但英国经济与欧元区大不相同。以住房融资市场为例。在英国，多数按揭贷款支付的是可变利率。而在欧元区，大多数按揭贷款的利率是固定的。
It is true the Bank of England reacts faster than the ECB. But the UK is a different economy. Take, for example, the market for housing finance. In the UK, most mortgages are taken out at a variable rate. In the eurozone, most are based on a fixed rate.
成功的经济管理不是选美比赛，不是看谁降息次数多，而是要在稳定的宏观经济环境下创造增长。
Successful economic management is not a beauty contest. It is not about who has cut interest rates how many times but about creating growth in a stable macroeconomic environment.
欧元区经济存在根深蒂固的结构性难题。但英国经济也有许多尚未解决的问题：房地产泡沫即将破灭，公共服务每况愈下，教育和劳动技能严重短缺。与欧洲其他国家相比，英国政府可能采取了更多的经济改革措施，但如果布朗先生要对英国的欧洲大陆伙伴国家指指点点，那么这样做既不会有帮助，也没有道理。
The eurozone is an economy in deep structural difficulty. But there are also a number of unresolved economic problems in the UK: a property bubble about to burst, failing public services and serious educational and skills shortages. The British government may have carried out more economic reforms than others in Europe. But for Mr Brown to point a finger at the UK\'s continental partners is neither helpful nor, in this case, justified. |
发表于 2003-12-14 00:00:00
