VOA常速英语2007-Three Americans Share Nobel Economics Award

By Kevin Billinghurst
Stockholm
15 October 2007

The 2007 Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics will be shared by three Americans, Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson. From Stockholm, Kevin Billinghurst reports for VOA.

The three are honored for their contributions to the field known as mechanism¹ design theory.

We encounter decisions in our daily lives that touch on the allocation mechanisms² studied by Hurwicz, Maskin and Myerson. In most economic transactions, one or both parties possess private information not known to the other, for instance when a car salesman knows exactly how much an auto³ costs from the factory, and the customer does not.

Joint⁴ projects between companies can fall apart, even when there is a clear gain to both sides, simply because each partner feels the other is not shouldering a fair share. Insurance companies may exaggerate the costs of providing health care in order to increase premiums⁵, and well-covered policy holders⁶ may claim non-existent illness in order to get a few days of paid vacation.

Adam Smith's metaphor⁷ of an "invisible hand of capitalism⁸" guiding decisions is useful in describing how markets, under ideal conditions, ensure efficient allocation of scarce resources. The three new Nobel laureates make the point that, in practice, conditions are seldom ideal: competition may not be completely free, consumers may be imperfectly informed, and rational individual choices may generate unforeseen social or environmental costs.

Mechanism design theory was first outlined by Leonid Hurwicz of the University of Minnesota in the 1960s, and refined and applied⁹ by Eric Maskin of Harvard and Roger Myerson of the University of Chicago.

By no means do the three reject the power of market efficiency; instead, they have worked to show which trading mechanisms, regulation schemes and voting procedures are best suited to real-world conditions, especially in the provision of public goods.

Professor Tore Ellingsen, a member of the prize-awarding Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, explained:

"One very rich area of application is regulation theory, where we now see that regulation theory is being re-written on the basis of this work, and to some extent implemented," he said. "In countries like the UK, we see mechanism design theory being applied, not only for setting up the trading mechanisms for the de-regulated industries, but also to regulate the remaining monopolists. So, we are seeing traces in the real world of institutions being reshaped by these ideas."

The economics award was not included in the will left by Alfred Nobel upon his death in 1897, but was funded in 1968 by the National Bank of Sweden. Like the Nobel laureates in medicine, chemistry, physics and literature, the recipients¹⁰ of the Alfred Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics will come to Stockholm in December to receive their gold medallions and checks for about $1.4 million. The Nobel Peace Prize in awarded in Oslo, Norway.

1 mechanism   

n.机械装置；机构，结构

参考例句：

• The bones and muscles are parts of the mechanism of the body.骨骼和肌肉是人体的组成部件。
• The mechanism of the machine is very complicated.这台机器的结构是非常复杂的。

2 mechanisms   

n.机械( mechanism的名词复数 )；机械装置；[生物学] 机制；机械作用

参考例句：

• The research will provide direct insight into molecular mechanisms. 这项研究将使人能够直接地了解分子的机理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He explained how the two mechanisms worked. 他解释这两台机械装置是如何工作的。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 premiums   

n.费用( premium的名词复数 )；保险费；额外费用；（商品定价、贷款利息等以外的）加价

参考例句：

• He paid premiums on his life insurance last year. 他去年付了人寿保险费。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Moves are afoot to increase car insurance premiums. 现正在酝酿提高汽车的保险费。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

7 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

8 capitalism   

n.资本主义

参考例句：

• The essence of his argument is that capitalism cannot succeed.他的论点的核心是资本主义不能成功。
• Capitalism began to develop in Russia in the 19th century.十九世纪资本主义在俄国开始发展。

9 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

10 recipients   

adj.接受的；受领的；容纳的；愿意接受的n.收件人；接受者；受领者；接受器

参考例句：

• The recipients of the prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者的姓名登在报上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The recipients of prizes had their names printed in the paper. 获奖者名单登在报上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》