【经济学人】欧元思想之战丨2016.10.29丨总第726期

THE euro crisis that first blew up in late 2009 has revealed deep flaws in the single currency’s design. Yet in part because it began with the bail-out of Greece, many politicians, especially German ones, think the main culprits were not these design flaws but fiscal profligacy and excessive public debt. That meant the only cure was fiscal austerity. In fact, that has often needlessly prolonged the pain. Later bail-outs of countries like Ireland and Spain showed that excessive private debt, property bubbles and over-exuberant banks can cause even bigger problems for financial stability.

在2009年末第一次爆发欧元危机，透露出单一货币设计上的缺陷。然而,部分是因为它来自于希腊的应急措施,许多政治家,尤其是德国,认为罪魁祸首不是这些设计缺陷,而是财政挥霍和过度的公共债务。这意味着唯一的方法是财政紧缩政策。事实上,经常不必要地延长了疼痛。之后国家的应急措施，例如爱尔兰和西班牙这样的国家表明,过度的私人债务,房价扩张和过度旺盛的银行可能为金融稳定造成更大的问题。

• bail-out ['beil,aut] ：应急措施

That is one early conclusion of “The Euro and the Battle of Ideas”, by three academics from Germany, Britain and France. They describe thoroughly the watershed moments of the crisis, how power shifted to national governments (especially in Berlin) and the roles played by the IMF and the European Central Bank (ECB). They blame euro-zone governments for failing to sort out troubled banks more quickly, for not realising that current-account deficits matter when public debts are in effect denominated in a foreign currency, for not making the ECB into a lender of last resort and for not pushing through structural reforms in good times.

“欧元思想之战”是由三位来自德国、英国和法国的学者得出的早期结论。他们彻底描述危机的分水岭的时刻,是如何将权力转移到国家政府(尤其是在柏林)和角色扮演的国际货币基金组织和欧洲中央银行(ECB)。 期待您的翻译，您可以将翻译留言到文章底部，第二天会有详细解析哦。

Such complaints are often heard, not least from Britain and America. But more originally, the authors find the roots of these failings not in stupidity but in clashing economic ideas. Simplifying a bit, they focus on Germany and France. The Germans like rules and discipline, and fret about excessive debt and the moral hazard created by bail-outs. The French prefer flexibility and discretion , and worry about large current-account surpluses and the lack of a mutualised debt instrument. The Germans favour budget austerity even in hard times; the French favour fiscal stimulus on Keynesian lines. German policymakers are often lawyers, French ones more frequently economists.

这样的抱怨还是经常收到的，不只是来自英国和美国。但是更核心的在于，作者发现这些失败的根源并不在于愚蠢而在于发生冲突的经济策略。简单来说，他们聚焦在德国和法国上。德国人看重规则和原则，担心优先给股东发股所带法国人选择凯恩斯主义利用财政来化解危机。德国政策制定者常常由律师担任，而法国的通常是经济学家。

• Hazard ['hæzəd] n.(c)  冒险，危险

• discretion [dɪ'skreʃ(ə)n] n.(c)  慎重，考虑周到，自行决定的自由，判断力

• austerity [ɒ'sterɪtɪ] n.(u)  苦行，严厉，简朴

• stimulus ['stɪmjʊləs]