2023年经济学人 通货膨胀对巨无霸汉堡意味着什么（1）（在线收听）

    What inflation means for the Big Mac.

    通货膨胀对巨无霸汉堡意味着什么。

    For much of the past two years, economists have argued fiercely about prices.

    过去两年的大部分时间，经济学家们都在就价格展开激烈的争论。

    As inflation in America and elsewhere has exceeded central-bank targets, analysts have dissected different components of the cost of living, including the prices of goods, services, energy and rents.

    美国和世界其它地区的通货膨胀已经超过了中央银行的通胀目标，分析师们对各方面生活成本进行了分析，分析内容包括商品、服务、能源和租金的价格。

    But what about the Big Mac?

    但是巨无霸汉堡呢？

    The iconic McDonald's burger is an amalgam of rent, electricity and labour, as well as beef, bread and cheese.

    这款麦当劳的标志性汉堡是租金、电费、劳动力，还有牛肉、面包和奶酪的结合。

    Its price is therefore indicative of broader inflationary pressures.

    因此，巨无霸的价格能够揭示更广泛的通胀压力。

    And because the burger is basically the same wherever you are in the world, its price can also reveal how inflation has changed the relative costliness of different countries.

    由于世界各地的汉堡基本上都是一样的，它的价格也可以揭示通货膨胀对各国相对价格的影响程度。

    In America, for example, the median price of a Big Mac has risen by more than 6% to an average of $5.36 in the past two years.

    例如，在美国，一个巨无霸汉堡的平均价格在过去两年里上涨了超过6%，达到平均5.36美元。

    (The price tends to be a bit higher in big cities.)（在大城市，价格往往会高一点。）

    According to the theory of purchasing-power parity, when a country's prices rise, its currency should fall, everything else equal.

    根据购买力平价理论，假设其他条件不变，当一个国家的物价水平上升时，其货币应该贬值。

    This stops the country's prices moving too far out of line with those elsewhere in the world.

    这能够防止该国物价与世界其他地区差距过大。

    Yet the dollar has risen, not fallen, over the past two years against the currencies of most other big economies.

    然而，在过去两年里，美元对其它大多数大型经济体的货币在升值，而非贬值。

    A trade-weighted exchange-rate index published by America's Federal Reserve increased by more than 9% from December 2020 to December 2022.

    从2020年12月到2022年12月，美国联邦储备委员会公布的美元贸易加权汇率指数涨幅超过9%。

    One reason for this is that inflation has also returned to lots of America's trading partners.

    其中一个原因是，通货膨胀也回到了美国的许多贸易伙伴身上。

    Indeed, in many places it is worse.

    事实上，很多地区的情况更糟。

    Big Mac prices have risen by 14% over the past two years in the euro area and by 15% in Britain.

    过去的两年，欧元区和英国的巨无霸价格分别上涨了14%和15%。

    But the dollar's rise against the euro and pound has been more than required to offset this inflation gap.

    但美元对欧元和英镑升值的幅度远远抵消了欧元区和英国由于通胀出现的物价差距。