各界频现巨头扼首垄断才是民主的敌人

2014-09-04 15:39:11来源：可可英语

　　“It takes a heap of Harberger triangles to fill an Okungap,” wrote James Tobin in 1977, four years beforewinning the Nobel Prize in economics. He meant thatthe big issue in economics was not battling againstmonopolists but preventing recessions andpromoting recovery.

　　詹姆斯•托宾(James Tobin)在1977年、也就是他获得诺贝尔经济学奖的四年前写道：“需要一堆哈伯格三角(Harbergertriangle)才能填满一个奥肯缺口(Okun gap)。”他的意思是，经济学的重大课题不在于反垄断，而在于防止衰退和促进复苏。

　　After the misery of recent years, nobody can doubt that preventing recessions and promotingrecovery would have been a very good idea. But economists should be able to think aboutmore than one thing at once. What if monopoly matters, too?

　　经历过近些年的苦难后，所有人都认定防止衰退和促进复苏会是个很好的主意。但是经济学家应当有能力同时思考不止一件事。如果垄断也有重要影响，那又当如何?

　　The Harberger triangle is the loss to society as monopolists raise their prices, and it is namedafter Arnold Harberger, who 60 years ago discovered that the costs of monopoly were about0.1 per cent of US gross domestic product – a few billion dollars these days, much less thanexpected and much less than a recession.

　　哈伯格三角代表垄断企业提价给社会造成的损失，它以阿诺德•哈伯格(Arnold Harberger)的名字命名。60年前，哈伯格发现，垄断给美国造成的损失相当于美国国内生产总值(GDP)的0.1%左右——按最近的GDP数据来算大约是数十亿美元——远远低于预期，也远小于一场衰退造成的损失。

　　Professor Harberger’s discovery helped build a consensus that competition authorities couldrelax about the power of big business. But have we relaxed too much?

　　哈伯格教授的发现促成了一个共识：反垄断机构可以放松对商业巨头力量的管制。但是，我们是不是放松得过头了?

　　Large companies are all around us. We buy our mid-morning coffee from global brands such asStarbucks, use petrol from Exxon or Shell, listen to music purchased from a conglomeratesuch as Sony (via Apple’s iTunes), boot up a computer that runs Microsoft on an Intelprocessor. Crucial utilities – water, power, heating, internet and telephone – are supplied by afew dominant groups, with baffling contracts damping any competition.

　　我们身边到处都是大公司。我们在星巴克(Starbucks)等国际品牌那里购买上午喝的咖啡，使用埃克森(Exxon)或壳牌(Shell)的汽油，(通过苹果(Apple)的iTunes)从索尼(Sony)等企业集团那里购买乐曲来欣赏，使用搭载英特尔(Intel)处理器、运行微软(Microsoft)软件的电脑。水、电、供暖、互联网、电话等关键公共服务都由少数在市场上占主导地位的集团来供应，它们手里拥有令人困惑的、抑制一切竞争的合同。

本文关键字: 各界频现巨头扼首