Theprinciplesofeconomics.经济学的原理(英译中).docx

Theprinciplesofeconomics.经济学的原理(英译中)The word economy comes from the Greek word for one who manages a household. at first, this origin might seem peculiar.经济这个字眼来自希腊语中“家庭的管理者”，一开始，这个起源似乎看上去有些特殊。But, in fact, households and economies have much in common.但是，实际上，家庭和经济有许多的共同之处。A household faces many decisions.一个家庭面临很多的决定。It must decide which members of the household do which tasks and what each member gets in return:它必须要决定家庭成员要完成任务，并且将每个家庭中的成员都安排在内。Who cooks dinner?谁烧正餐？Who does the laundry?谁做洗衣服？Who gets the extra dessert at dinner?谁可以得到额外的餐后甜点？Who gets to choose what TV show to watch?谁可以选择电视节目来看？In short, the household must allocate its scarce resources among its various members, taking into account each members abilities, efforts, and desires.总之，家庭必须把其缺乏的资源分配给其中的各种成员，并把每个成员能力，努力和愿望考虑进去，-Like a household, a society faces many decisions.和家庭一样，社会也面临很多的决定。A society must decide what jobs will be done and who will do them.社会必须决定工作将要被完成，由谁来完成它们。It needs some people to grow food, other people to make clothing, and still others to design computer software.它需要一些人来种植粮食，一些人来制作服装，还需要一些人来设计电脑软件。Once society has allocated people (as well as land, buildings, and machines) to various jobs, it must decide who will eat caviar and who will eat potatoes.一旦社会分派人们做各种不同的工作，它肯定决定谁将吃鱼子酱，谁将吃马铃薯。It must decide who will drive a Porsche and who will take the bus.它肯定决定谁将开保时捷，谁将乘公共汽车。The management of societys resources is important because resources are scarce.因为资源缺乏所以社会资源的管理是非常重要的。Scarcity means that society has less to offer than people wish to have.不足意味着社会的供应不能满足人们的期望值。Just as a household cannot give every member everything he or she wants, a society cannot give every individual the highest standard of living to which he or she might aspire.就像家庭不能满足所有成员的需求一样，社会不能给所有个体以他们所期待的最高的生活标准。Economics is the study of how society manages its scarce resources.经济学就是研究社会如何管理其缺乏的资源的方法。-In most societies, resources are allocated not by a single central planner but through the combined actions of millions of households and firms.在大部分的社会中，资源并不是被单一的中心计划者分配而是由数百万家庭与企业相结合的行动分配。Economists therefore study how people make decisions:因此经济学家研究人们如何做决定：How much they work, what they buy, how much they save, and how they invest their savings.他们做多少工作，他们买什么，他们节省多少，并且他们怎样用存款进行投资。Economists also study how people interact with one another.经济学家也研究人们之间的相互影响。For instance, they examine how the multitude of buyers and sellers of a good together determine the price at which the good is sold and the quantity that is sold and the economy as a whole, including the growth in average income, the fraction of the population that cannot find work, and the rate at which prices are rising.例如，他们调查一件商品的顾客群和卖主是如何一起来制定出这件被售商品的价格，数量和整体的经济情况，包括平均收入的增长，小部分人口的失业，和价格上涨的速率。Although the study of economics has many facets, the field is unified by several central ideas.尽管经济学的研究存在很多的侧面，但这一领域被几个中心的想法所统一。In the rest of this chapter, we look at Ten Principles of Economics.在这章的余下的部分中，我们看一下经济学的10个原则。These principles recur throughout this book and are introduced here to give you an overview of what economics is all about.这些原则重复贯穿于这本书中，向你们介绍对经济学的一个总体的看法。-How people make decisions.人们该怎样做决定。There is no mystery to what an economy is.“经济”是什么，并不神秘。Whether we are talking about the economy of Los Angeles, of the united state, or of the whole world, an economy is just a group of people interacting with one another as they go about their lives.无论我们谈论美国洛杉矶的经济，还是全球世界经济，经济都是一群人们与其他人的相互作用影响，就好像他们着手的人生一样。-Because the behavior of an economy reflects the behavior of the individuals who make up the economy, we start our study of economics with four principles of individual decision-making.因为经济的行为反映组成经济的个体的行为，我们以个体做决定的4原则来开始经济学的研究。Principle 1 people face tradeoffs.原则1，人们面对交易。The first lesson about making decisions is summarized in the adage:关于下决定的第一个功课被概括在格言中：There is no such thing as a free lunch.“没有免费的午餐”。To get one thing that we like, we usually have to give up another thing that we like.为了得到我们所喜欢的一件东西，我们通常不得不放弃另一件我们所喜欢的东西。Making decisions requires trading off one goal against another.做决定需要用一个目标取代其它所有的目标。Consider a student who must decide how to allocate her most valuable resource her time.考虑一个学生必须决定如何来分配她的最有价值的资源和她的时间。-She can spend all of her time studying economics;她可以花费她全部的时间来学习经济学。She can spend all her time studying psychology;她可以花费她全部的时间来学习心理学。or she can divide her time between the two fields.或者，她可以将她的时间分配给这两门学科。For every hour she studies one subject, she gives up an hour she could have used studying the other.每个小时她学习一门学科，放弃一个小时她可能已经用它来学习其它的事情。And for every hour she spends studying, she gives up an hour that she could have spent napping, bike riding, watching TV, or working at her part-time job for some extra spending money.并且，每一小时她都用来学习，放弃一个小时她可以打盹，骑自行车，看电视，或做一份能为她带来额外花销的兼职。Or consider parents deciding how to spend their family income.或者，考虑父母如何决定家庭收入的开支。They can buy food, clothing, or a family vacation.他们可以买食物，服装或一个家庭度假。Or they can save some of the family income for retirement or the childrens college education.或者，他们可心为自己的退休或子女们的大学教育储蓄一部分的家庭收入。When they choose to spend an extra dollar on one of these goods, they have one less dollar to spend on some other good.当他们选择在这个商品的上花费额外的一美元的时候，他们已经没有能力在其它的商品上花费了。When people are grouped into societies, they face different kinds of tradeoffs.当人们被分类进入社会的时候，他们面对各种不同的种类的交易。The classic tradeoff is between guns and butter.一个“枪与黄油”之间的经典的交易。The more we spend on national defense to protect our shores form foreign aggressors (guns), the less we can spend on personal goods to raise our standard of living at home (butter).我们为保护边岸不受外国的侵略而在国防上花费的钱越多，在国内我们花费在提高生活水平的商品上的钱就越少。 -Also important in modern society is the tradeoff between a clean environment and a high level of income.在当今社会中清洁的环境和高收入水平之间的交易也是重要的。Laws that require firms to reduce pollution raise the cost of producing goods and devices.法律要求企业减少污染提高生产产品和设备的成本。Because of the higher costs, these firms end up earning smaller profits, paying lower wages, charging higher prices, or some combination of these three.由于更高的成本，这些将结束赚取更小的利润，支付更低的工资，索取更高的价格，或者这三者的合并。-Thus, while pollution regulations give us the benefit of a cleaner environment and the improved health that comes with it, they have the cost of reducing the incomes of the firms owners, workers, and customers.这样，当污秽规章给我们更清洁的环境和改善健康的利益到来的时候，他们的成本就是企业所有者，工人和顾客所减少的收入。Another tradeoff society faces is between efficiency and equity.另一个社会所面对的是效率和公正之间交易。Efficiency means that society is getting the most it can from its scarce resources.效率表示社会在最大限度的使用它有限资源中的获取。Equity means that the benefits of those resources are distributed fairly among societys members.公正表示那些资源的利益被公平的分布在社会成员中。-In other words, efficiency refers to the size of the economic pie, and equity refers to how the pie is divided often, when government policies are being designed, and these two goals conflict.换句话说，效率是指经济馅饼的尺寸，而公正是指当政府的政策已经被设定，这两个目标有冲突的时候馅饼经常被分配的方法。-Consider, for instance, policies aimed at achieving a more equal distribution of economic well-being.考虑，例如，政策针对完成更相等的经济上的福利分配。-Some of these policies, such as the welfare system or unemployment insurance, try to help those members of society who are most in need.这些政策，类似福利制度或失业保险政策，都努力去帮助那些最需要帮助的社会成员。Others, such as the individual income tax, ask the financially successful to contribute more than others to support the government.此外，类似个人所得税，要求财政上成功的个人贡献比其它人更多的所得税来支持政府。Although these policies have the benefit of achieving greater equity, they have a cost in terms of reduced efficiency.尽管这些政策有完成更公平的利益，但他们在减少的效率方面有成本。When the government redistributes income from the rich to the poor, it reduces the reward for working hard;当政府重新从有钱人到穷人再次分配收入的时候，它会减少努力工作所得的报酬；as a result, people work less and produce fewer goods and services.其结果，人们工作的更少，商品生产的更少和服务的更少。-In other words, when the government tries to cut the economic pie into more equal slices, the pie gets smaller.换句话说，当政府努力去把经济的馅饼切成更相等的切片时候，馅饼就变得更小。Recognizing that people face tradeoffs des not by itself tell us what decisions they will or should make.承认人们面对交易不是通过它本身，告诉我们他们将做或者应该做什么样的决定。-A student should not abandon the study of psychology just because doing so would increase the time available for the study of economics.正因为这样去做将增加可以用于研究经济学的可利用的时间所以学生不应该放弃心理学的研究。Society should not stop protecting the environment just because environmental regulations reduce our material standard of living.正因为环境的规章减少我们生活水平的原料，所以社会有应该停止对环境的保护。The poor should not be ignored just because helping them distorts work incentives.正因The opportunity cost of an item is what you give up to get that item.机会成本就是你为了得到这个项目而要放弃另外一个项目。When making any decision, such as whether to attend college, decision makers should be aware of the opportunity costs that accompany each possible action, in fact, they usually are.给做一个类似是否上学院的决定的时候，做决定的人应该知道机会成本随伴每个可能的行动，实际上，他们通常是这样的。College-age athletes who can earn millions if they drop ort of school and play professional sports are well aware that their opportunity cost of college is very high.如果离开学校从事职业运动可能赚取百万元的大学生运动员，很清梦他们读大学的机会成本非常高。It is not surprising that they often decide that the benefit is not worth the cost.他们经常决定利益并不与成本等值，并不令人吃惊。Principle 3 rational people think at the margin.原则的3，人们在差额上的合理思考。Many decisions in life involve making small incremental adjustments to an existing plan of action.一生中的很多决定包括给目前行动的计划做小的渐渐增加的调整。-Economists call these marginal changes.经济学家称这些为边际的变化。In many situations, people will make the best decisions by thinking at the margin.在很多的情况下，人们考虑了差额后将会做出最好的决定。Suppose, for instance, that a friend asks your advice about how many years to stay in school.推测一下，例如朋友向你征求在学校呆多少年的建议。If you were to compare for him the life style of a person with ato that of a grade school dropout, he might complain that this comparison is not helpful for his decision.如果你为他将一个有哲学博士的人的生活方式与一个中途缀学生相比较，他将会抱怨道这比较对他的决定来说没有帮助。Your friend is more likely to have some education already and to be deciding whether to spend an extra year or two in school.你的朋友更有可能已经接受一些教育，在决定是否在学校花费额外的一年或二年时间。To make this decision, he needs to know the additional benefits that an extra year in school would offer and the additional costs that he would incur.为了下这个决定，他需要知道上额外一年的学将提供的额外的利益和他将承受的额外的成本。By comparing these marginal benefits and marginal costs, he can evaluate whether the extra year is worthwhile.通过对这些差额利润和差额成本的比较，他将会评价额外的一年是否有价值。As another example of how thinking at the margin helps decision making, consider an airline deciding how much to charge passengers who fly standby.作为另一个考虑差额帮助做出决定的方法的例子，考虑一个航空公司决定向准备飞行的乘客收取多少费用.Suppose that flying a 200-seat plane across the country costs the airline this case, the average cost of each seat is 100000/200,which is 500.假设驾驶200-座位飞机穿过这个国家将花费这个航空公司100000美元.在这种情况下,每个座位的平均成本是100000除以$200,即500美元。one might be tempted to conclude that the airline should never sell a ticket for less than 500.得出的结论只有一种可能航空公司决不以比500低的价格售票。Yet the airline can raise its profits by thinking at the margin.然而，航空公司可以通过在价格差额带来的利益思考来提高其利益。Suppose that a plane is about to take off with ten empty seats.假设即将起飞的飞机有10空的座位。A standby passenger is waiting at the gate willing to pay 300 for a seat.一个在大门处等待机座的乘客乐于为这个座位支付300的费用。Should the air line sell it to him?航空公司应该将这个座位卖给他吗?Of course it should.当然应该。If the plane has empty seats, the cost of adding one more passenger is minuscule, although the average cost of flying a passenger is 500, the marginal cost is merely the cost of the bag of peanuts and can of soda that the extra passenger will consume.如果飞机有空的座位, 每增加一个乘客成本就会更小,尽管每位飞行乘客的平均成本是500美元,边缘的价格仅仅是乘客将额外消费的花生和罐装汽水的价格.As long as the standby passenger pays more than the marginal cost, selling him a ticket is profitable.只要等待机座的乘客支付的价钱比边缘价格高，卖给他票是有利可图。As these examples show, individuals and firms can make better decisions by thinking at the margin.这些例子表明，通过在价格差额上的思考个人和企业能做出更好决定。A rational decision maker takes an action if and only if the marginal benefit of the action exceeds the marginal cost.只有当这个行动带来边际利润超出它的边际成本时,一个理性的决策制定者才可以实施这个行动。-Principle 4 people respond to incentives.原则4,人们对刺激性因素的响应。Because people make decisions by comparing costs and benefits, their behavior may change when the costs or benefits change.因为人们通过比较成本和利益来做决定，所以当成本或利益变化的时候，他们的行为可以变化。That is, people respond to incentives.那就是，人们对刺激性因素的响应。When the price of an apple rises, for instance, people decide to eat more pears and fewer apples, because the cost of buying an apple is higher.例如，当苹果的价格上涨时候,人们因为买苹果的成本高所以决定多吃洋梨和少吃苹果。At the same time, apple orchards decide to hire more workers and harvest more apples, because the benefit of selling an apple is also higher.同时，苹果果园决定雇用更多的工人收获更多的苹果，因为卖苹果的利益也更高。-The central role of incentives in determining behavior is important for those designing public policy.刺激性因素的中心的角色在决定行为中对那些有计划的公众政策是重要的。-Public policies often alter the costs or benefits of private actions.公共的政策经常改变私人的行动的成本或利益。When policymakers fail to consider how behavior might change as a result, their policies can have effects that they did not intend.当政策的制定者不思索行为怎样可以其结果改变的时候，他们的政策会有他们没有预计到的后果。As an example of such unintended effects, consider public policy toward seat belts and auto safety, in the 1950s few cars had seat belts.对于安全带和汽车安全考虑的公众政策的非故意的影响的一个例子,因此，在五十年代只有极少的汽车有安全带。-Today all cars do, and the reason for the change id public policy.今日全部汽车都有了，原因在于改变社会政策。-In the late 1960s, Ralph nadirs book unsafe at nay speed generated much public concern over auto safety, congress responded with legislation requiring car companies to make various safety features, including seat belts, standard equipment on all new cars.在60年代末期, 拉尔夫的书在速度产生的危险, 使很多公共关心汽车的安全,国会根据立法做出响应要求汽车制造厂商制造各种的安全部件,包括安全带,标准的装备在所有的新车上How does a seat belt law affect auto safety?安全带法律是怎样影响汽车安全的？The direct effect is obvious.直接的效果是明显。With seat belts in all cars, more people wear seat belts, and the probability of surviving a major auto accident rises.全部汽车都有安全带，更多的人们系安全带，在一场重大交通事故中生还的可能性在上升.。In this sense, seat belts save lives.在这种意义下，安全带挽救了生命。This direct impact of seat belts on safety is what motivated congress to require seat belts.安全带的对安全的直接的影响是促使国会做出安全带的要求。Yet, to understand fully the effects of this law, one must recognize that people change their behavior in response the incentives they face.然而,更充分地理解这法律的效果，必须承认人们在面对的刺激性因素的响应中改变他们的行为他们。In this case, the relevant behavior is the speed and care with which drivers operate their automobiles.在这种情况下，有关的行为是速度和对司机驾驶汽车的担心。Driving slowly and carefully is costly because it uses the drivers time and energy.慢速的小心的驾驶的代价是昂贵的因为它占用了司机的时间和精力。When deciding how safely