经济学家与政治思想家

“The Hiding Hand principle suggests that ignorance of the difficulties ahead can be a blessing in disguise — people start projects they would never have begun had they known the full cost, and then find creative ways to overcome the unexpected obstacles.”

“遮蔽之手原理表明，对前方困难的无知可能是因祸得福——人们开始了那些若知道全部代价便永远不会启动的项目，然后找到了克服意外障碍的创造性方法。”

“Famines are easy to prevent if there is a serious effort to do so, and a democratic government, facing elections and criticism from opposition parties and independent newspapers, cannot help but make such an effort. No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy.”

“如果真有诚意去防止饥荒，它是容易防止的。面临选举以及来自反对党和独立报纸的批评的民主政府，不可能不做出这样的努力。在世界历史上，从未有一个正常运转的民主国家发生过饥荒。”

“Nations fail because their extractive economic institutions do not create the incentives needed for people to save, invest, and innovate. Extractive political institutions support these economic institutions by cementing the power of those who benefit from the extraction.”

“国家之所以失败，是因为其榨取性经济制度没有创造出激励人们储蓄、投资和创新的动力。榨取性政治制度通过巩固那些从榨取中获益者的权力来支撑这些经济制度。”

“The argument for liberty is not an argument against organization, which is one of the most powerful tools human reason can employ, but an argument against all exclusive, privileged, monopolistic organization, against the use of coercion to prevent others from doing better.”

“自由的论证并非反对组织——组织是人类理性所能运用的最强大工具之一——而是反对一切排他的、特权的、垄断的组织，反对用强制手段阻止他人做得更好。”

“A fundamental characteristic of our economy is that the financial system swings between robustness and fragility and these swings are an integral part of the process that generates business cycles.”

“我们经济的一个根本特征是，金融体系在稳健与脆弱之间摇摆，而这些摇摆是产生经济周期的过程的有机组成部分。”

“To allow the market mechanism to be sole director of the fate of human beings and their natural environment would result in the demolition of society.”

“允许市场机制成为人类命运及其自然环境的唯一主宰，将导致社会的毁灭。”

“Marx, however much he may have been wrong in detail, understood the nature of capitalism better than anyone else. His central theme — that private property in the means of production is a social relation, not a natural fact — remains as valid as ever.”

“马克思尽管在细节上可能有误，但他对资本主义本质的理解超过任何人。他的核心主题——生产资料的私有制是一种社会关系，而非自然事实——一如既往地正确。”

“Quand le taux de rendement du capital dépasse durablement le taux de croissance de la production et du revenu — ce qui était le cas jusqu'au XIXe siècle, et risque fort de redevenir la norme au XXIe siècle —, le capitalisme produit mécaniquement des inégalités insoutenables, arbitraires, remettant radicalement en cause les valeurs méritocratiques sur lesquelles se fondent nos sociétés démocratiques.”

“当资本收益率超过产出和收入增长率时——正如十九世纪的情况，而且在二十一世纪似乎很可能再次出现——资本主义就会自动产生任意的、不可持续的不平等，从根本上损害民主社会赖以立足的精英价值观。”

“Conspicuous consumption of valuable goods is a means of reputability to the gentleman of leisure.”

“对贵重商品的炫耀性消费，是有闲绅士获取声望的手段。”

“How selfish soever man may be supposed, there are evidently some principles in his nature, which interest him in the fortune of others, and render their happiness necessary to him, though he derives nothing from it except the pleasure of seeing it.”

“无论人被认为有多么自私，其天性中显然存在某些本能，使他关心他人的命运，并视他人的幸福为自身之必需，尽管他从中除了看到他人幸福时的愉悦之外一无所获。”

“The conventional view serves to protect us from the painful job of thinking.”

“传统观点的用处在于使我们免于思考这件苦差事。”

“The long run is a misleading guide to current affairs. In the long run we are all dead. Economists set themselves too easy, too useless a task if in tempestuous seasons they can only tell us that when the storm is long past the ocean is flat again.”

“长期是对当前事务的误导。从长期看我们都已死去。如果经济学家在风暴季节只能告诉我们，风暴过去很久之后海面又会恢复平静，那他们给自己设定的任务未免太轻松、太无用了。”

“The entrepreneur is essentially a man of action, driven not by hedonistic motives but by the dream and the will to found a private kingdom, the will to conquer, and the joy of creating.”

“企业家本质上是行动者，驱动他的不是享乐动机，而是建立私人王国的梦想与意志、征服的意志以及创造的喜悦。”

“Virtually all of today's rich countries used protectionist policies and other forms of government intervention to develop their economies. Having climbed to the top, they then kicked away the ladder by which they had risen, preaching free trade and free markets to developing nations.”

“几乎所有当今的富裕国家都曾使用保护主义政策和其他形式的政府干预来发展经济。在攀上顶峰之后，他们便踢掉了自己赖以攀升的梯子，转而向发展中国家鼓吹自由贸易和自由市场。”