经济学人:慷慨经济学 邻居的善意

 　　Finance and economics: The economics of generosity¹ The kindness of neighbours

　　财经：慷慨经济学 邻居的善意

　　A new paper asks why some Tanzanian farmers are more selfish than others.

　　一份新的报纸说为何一些坦桑尼亚农民比其他人更自私。

　　In the semi-arid lowlands of Mufindi, in southern Tanzania, water is hard to come by.

　　姆芬迪低地位于坦桑尼亚南部，属半干旱气候，水资源匮乏。

　　Villagers rely on irrigation to grow maize², potatoes and spinach³.

　　村民依靠灌溉设施种植玉米、土豆和菠菜。

　　慷慨经济学邻居的善意.jpeg

　　Informal and often woolly codes govern how much water each farmer diverts to their own fields, and how much they leave for their neighbours downstream.

　　农民自家用多少水，给下游乡亲留多少水，没有官方说法，也没有明确标准。

　　Some farmers, naturally, turn out to be more grasping than others.

　　一些村民相比其他人表现出了较为贪婪的本性。

　　Economists⁴ typically see such decisions as irreducible: there is no accounting⁵ for individuals' values and preferences.

　　经济学家普遍认为，每个人有各自的价值观和偏好，所以水资源分配的决策也很难一概而论。

　　But a new study investigates why there is such variation in generosity among Mufindi's farmers.

　　但一项新研究探讨了姆芬迪农民慷慨程度差异背后的原因。

　　The researchers asked other villagers to rank each farmer's social status on a scale of one to four.

　　研究人员要求其他村民将每个农民的社会地位按一到四分级。

　　Then they invited the farmers to take part in a game in which participants had to decide how much water they would take under different scenarios⁶.

　　然后，他们邀请农民参与一项游戏。游戏中，参与者要决定自己在不同情境下的用水量。

　　Participants were paid small sums, which varied⁷ according to how well they did in the game.

　　参与者根据表现可以拿到少额不同的报酬。

　　They received more money if they reaped a bigger harvest by taking more than their share of water, for instance, but less if the other villagers fined them for violating water-sharing norms.

　　例如，如果取水量大于应得份额，收成就更好，参与者得到的报酬就更高；但如果因违反水资源共享规则而遭到其他村民罚款，报酬就会少一些。

　　In hypothetical times of scarcity⁸, only high-status women shared the water fairly.

　　在水资源稀缺的假设条件下，只有地位高的女性公平共享了水资源。

　　Low-status men and women would share fairly when water was plentiful⁹, but were stingier when water was scarce.

　　地位低的男性和女性，当水资源丰富时尚能公平分享，匮乏时则吝啬得多。

　　High-status men hogged¹⁰ water at all times.

　　地位高的男性不论何时都会独占水资源。

　　Rather than simply conclude that some farmers were more altruistic¹¹ than others, however, the researchers split the participants into groups by status and gender¹² to discuss the outcome.

　　研究人员没有将上述现象简单地归结为一些农民更为大公无私，而是将参与者按照社会地位和性别分组以便讨论结果。

　　Rich and powerful men, it turned out, were less worried about being greedy, either because the gains dwarfed¹³ any fine, or because they assumed their downstream neighbours would not dare complain.

　　研究表明，有钱有势的男性之所以不那么在意自己是否太贪婪了，要么是因为贪婪带来的收益远远超过了罚款，要么是因为他们认为下游邻居不敢抱怨。

　　One villager said that she had to keep quiet, since the person overusing the water was influential¹⁴.

　　一位村民谈到，滥用水的那个人很有势力，她只能闭嘴。

　　By contrast, another said, “Low-status people are not expected to break the rules.”

　　相反，也有人说：“不要指望下层人打破规矩。”

　　Women, even of high status, also seem inhibited¹⁵.

　　女性，甚至地位高的女性，看起来都十分克制。

　　The apparent generosity of women and the poor, in short, may not be the product of compassion¹⁶, but of discrimination.

　　简言之，女性和穷人所表现出的慷慨，不是出于同情，而是由于受到了歧视。

　　1.come by 得到；从旁经过

　　例句:How did you come by that cheque?

　　你是怎么弄到那张支票的？

　　2.in short 简而言之；短缺

　　例句:Food is in short supply all over the country.

　　全国普遍食品供应不足。

　　3.By contrast 相反

　　例句:By contrast, the comparable figure for the Netherlands is 16 per cent.

　　相反，荷兰的相对数字为16%。

　　4.turned out 证明是；结果是

　　例句:It turned out she was shacked¹⁷ up with a lawyer in New York.

　　原来她在纽约和一名律师同居了。

1 generosity   

n.大度，慷慨，慷慨的行为

参考例句：

• We should match their generosity with our own.我们应该像他们一样慷慨大方。
• We adore them for their generosity.我们钦佩他们的慷慨。

2 maize   

n.玉米

参考例句：

• There's a field planted with maize behind the house.房子后面有一块玉米地。
• We can grow sorghum or maize on this plot.这块地可以种高粱或玉米。

3 spinach   

n.菠菜

参考例句：

• Eating spinach is supposed to make you strong.据说吃菠菜能使人强壮。
• You should eat such vegetables as carrot,celery and spinach.你应该吃胡萝卜、芹菜和菠菜这类的蔬菜。

4 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

6 scenarios   

n.[意]情节；剧本；事态；脚本

参考例句：

• Further, graphite cores may be safer than non-graphite cores under some accident scenarios. 再者，根据一些事故解说，石墨堆芯可比非石墨堆芯更安全一些。 来自英汉非文学 - 环境法 - 环境法
• Again, scenarios should make it clear which modes are acceptable to users in various contexts. 同样，我们可以运用场景剧本来搞清楚在不同情境下哪些模式可被用户接受。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

7 varied   

adj.多样的，多变化的

参考例句：

• The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
• The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。

8 scarcity   

n.缺乏，不足，萧条

参考例句：

• The scarcity of skilled workers is worrying the government.熟练工人的缺乏困扰着政府。
• The scarcity of fruit was caused by the drought.水果供不应求是由于干旱造成的。

9 plentiful   

adj.富裕的，丰富的

参考例句：

• Their family has a plentiful harvest this year.他们家今年又丰收了。
• Rainfall is plentiful in the area.这个地区雨量充足。

10 hogged   

adj.（船）中拱的，（路）拱曲的

参考例句：

• The guy hogged the whole park bench. 那个人占着整张公园长椅。 来自辞典例句
• The cat hogged himself to attack a big dog. 那只猫拱起背向一条大狗发起了攻击。 来自互联网

11 altruistic   

adj.无私的，为他人着想的

参考例句：

• It is superficial to be altruistic without feeling compassion.无慈悲之心却说利他，是为表面。
• Altruistic spirit should be cultivated by us vigorously.利他的精神是我们应该努力培养的。

12 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

13 dwarfed   

vt.（使）显得矮小（dwarf的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• The old houses were dwarfed by the huge new tower blocks. 这些旧房子在新建的高楼大厦的映衬下显得十分矮小。
• The elephant dwarfed the tortoise. 那只乌龟跟那头象相比就显得很小。 来自《简明英汉词典》

14 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

15 inhibited   

a.拘谨的，拘束的

参考例句：

• Boys are often more inhibited than girls about discussing their problems. 男孩子往往不如女孩子敢于谈论自己的问题。
• Having been laughed at for his lameness,the boy became shy and inhibited. 那男孩因跛脚被人讥笑，变得羞怯而压抑。

16 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

17 shacked   

vi.未婚而同居（shack的过去式与过去分词形式）

参考例句：

• He's shacked up with some girl he met in Berlin. 他跟一个在柏林结识的女子同居了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They have shacked up together. 他们同居了。 来自互联网