2020年经济学人 政府和市场(1)（在线收听）

Prices, according to economists, are determined by supply and demand, acting like the twin blades of a pair of scissors.

经济学家认为，价格是由供需决定的，就像剪刀的双刃一样。

But that is not the whole story. In many times and places, prices have instead been set by the blunter blades of political pressure and government response.

但这还不是全部。在很多时期和地方，经济反而是由政治压力和政府回应的钝刀所决定的。

One of the oldest surviving texts, the Hammurabi code, includes elaborate price and wage controls:

现存最古老的文献之一《汉谟拉比法典》中包括了详尽的价格和工资控制：

2.5 grains of silver per day for a rowing boat, six for a labourer.

划艇每天2.5粒银，体力劳动者每天6粒。

At the other end of history, on January 7th Argentina's government updated its list of precios cuidados (managed prices),

在历史的另一端，1月7日，阿根廷政府更新了其物价监管措施名单，

setting guidelines for over 300 supermarket products, including lettuce, ultra-thin condoms and mate, a traditional tea-like drink.

为超过300种超市产品制定了参考价格，包括生菜、超薄避孕套以及一种传统茶类饮料。

Via a mobile-phone app, consumers can report any products

通过手机应用，消费者可以报告任何

that are missing from the shelves or any prices that are managed less tightly than the government would like.

缺货商品或任何超过政府参考价格的商品。

According to new data collected by the World Bank, 89% of developing economies meddle with the price of energy,

根据世界银行收集的新数据，89%的发展中国家都会干预能源价格，

76% with the price of foodstuffs (bread in Benin, sugar in Congo, rice in Haiti) and 13% with the price of construction materials.

76%会干预食品价格（贝宁的面包、刚果的糖、海地的大米），13%会干预建筑材料价格。

Burkina Faso, for example, controls the prices of cement, sheet metal and reinforcing bars.

例如，布基纳法索会管制水泥、薄板和钢筋的价格。

Governments generally impose price controls for one of three reasons: to redistribute, stabilise or deflate.

政府通常会以这三个理由之一作为实施价格管制的原因：为了再分配、稳定或或紧缩。

Price caps help the poor afford necessities of life; price floors prop up the livelihoods of farmers.

价格上限帮助穷人购买生活必需品；最低价格支撑着农民的生计。

Buffer stocks try to stabilise volatile commodity prices,

缓冲库存想要稳定波动的大宗商品价格，

especially if it is costly for farmers to switch back and forth between crops that fall in and out of market favour.

尤其是当农民在市场青睐的作物和不受市场青睐的作物之间来回转换的成本很高时。

Controls have also been deployed to fight inflation. Argentina's previous president, Mauricio Macri,

控制也被用于对抗通货膨胀。阿根廷上一任总统毛里西奥·马克里

had hoped to downplay the precios cuidados introduced by his predecessor, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner,

曾希望可以淡化他的前任克里斯蒂娜·费尔南德斯·德基什内尔推出的物价监管措施，

but unstoppable inflation prompted him instead to go further, freezing prices in 2019 for over 60 essential goods.

但不可遏制的通货膨胀反而促使他更进一步，在2019年冻结了60多种必需品的价格。

The ubiquity of price controls shows that economists have less influence than many people think.

无处不在的价格管制表明经济学家的影响力不如众人所认为那么大。