Is capitalism actually broken?

翻译人员: Grace Man 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

Each one of these machines represents the economic system of a country.

每台机器都代表着 一个国家的经济体制。

Every machine has three inputs:

每台机器的运转都需要 三项生产要素：

labor, people’s work.

劳动力——人们的工作。

Capital, all the stuff that a business might use,

资本—— 商业可能需要用到的一切，

including intangibles, like ideas.

包括无形资产，例如创意。

And natural resources.

以及自然资源。

The machine converts these inputs into goods and services,

机器将这些生产要素转化为 商品与服务。

and because we’re willing to pay for the things the machine produces,

因为我们愿意 为机器所生产的东西进行支付，

what the machine is really creating here is value.

所以机器创造的其实是价值。

Economies turn inputs into value.

经济将生产要素变为价值。

What determines whether the machine is capitalist, communist, socialist,

什么决定了这台机器是资本主义、 共产主义、社会主义或者其他呢？

or something else?

Three dials.

三个刻度表。

The first dial controls who owns the capital.

第一个刻度表显示 谁拥有资本。

Over here, the government owns every bit of capital,

在这个位置，政府拥有着一切资本，

down to the last office paperclip.

哪怕是办公室里的最后一枚回形针。

North Korea is probably the closest economy to 0%.

北朝鲜可能是 最接近 0% 的经济体。

On the other end of the spectrum, at 100%, private citizens own all the capital.

另一个极端，100%， 个体公民拥有着所有的资本。

The US is about here, at roughly two-thirds private ownership.

美国差不多在这个位置， 大约 2/3 的资本为私人所有。

The second dial dictates how much control the government has

第二个刻度表显示 政府对于生产活动的控制权。

over what gets produced.

In economies with high coordination, like the old USSR,

对于前苏联这种 政府协调控制度高的经济体，

the government dictated what the economy could— and would— produce.

政府支配着经济 能够以及将会生产什么。

In economies with low coordination,

而协调控制度低的经济体，

the government might mandate a few things,

政府可能只会决定一些事情，

but leaves most decision-making up to the private sector.

而其他大部分事项的决策权 都在私有部门手中。

The third dial controls how extensively markets are used to set prices.

第三个刻度表代表着 市场可以在多大程度上决定价格。

Over here at 0%, we have economies with no markets,

0% 的意思是 经济体里没有市场的存在，

where the government sets all prices, and consumers have no say.

政府决定所有物品的价格， 消费者没有发言权。

Over here at 100%,

这里是 100%，

markets are used to set the price of everything,

市场决定着所有物品的价格，

even things like basic life-saving health care.

甚至包括简易的医疗救生用品。

You can also think of this dial as controlling the number and extent

这个刻度盘可以被想象成控制着 政府管控的范围与数额——

of government regulations—

from tariffs on foreign goods to antitrust laws

从外国商品的关税到反垄断法案，

to regulations on net neutrality.

再到网络中立性的管控条约。

So, capitalism isn’t just one type of economy—

所以资本主义 不单单是一种经济体制，

it’s a wide range of possible economies,

它是一系列经济体制可能性的集合，

which makes answering the question of whether capitalism is broken, complicated.

这使得回答资本主义体制是否破裂 这个问题变得复杂。

But we’re going to try.

不过我们来尝试回答一下。

At the height of the Industrial Revolution,

工业革命的高潮时期，

the dials were set pretty close to what we now call free market,

刻度盘几乎被调至 接近自由市场的水平，

or “laissez-faire” capitalism.

或者说是“自由放任”的资本主义。

There were very few regulations,

法规限定非常少，

and economists of the time believed that capitalism’s “invisible hand”—

当时的经济学家相信 资本主义那只“看不见的手”——

basically, individuals acting freely and in their own self-interest—

简单来说，就是个人在经济生活中 自由行动并且只考虑自己利益，

would produce optimal outcomes, both for the economy and for society.

这会给经济与社会均带来 利益最大化的最优结果。

And that’s how we ended up with embalming fluid in milk.

但是，故事的结局是 牛奶中开始出现防腐剂。

In the late 1800s in the United States, food manufacturers put all kinds of cheap

十九世纪末的美国， 食品生产商将各种廉价

(and sometimes dangerous) adulterants in food to maximize profits.

（有时甚至有毒的）物质 掺杂进食品来实现利益最大化。

What they were doing was legal, but of course, wrong.

他们的做法合法， 但是当然，是不对的。

There was a public outcry, and in 1906,

大众强烈抗议。 在 1906 年，国会通过了

Congress passed the Pure Food and Drugs Act,

《确保食品和药品纯洁性法案》，

setting the stage for the Food and Drug Administration,

为日后“美国食品和药品管理局”的 成立打下基础。

which watches over the US’s food supply to this day.

该机构至今仍在监管 美国的食品供应。

These days, no economy really practices pure “invisible hand” capitalism,

如今，没有哪个经济体在践行纯粹的 “看不见的手”的资本主义制度，

but some people are increasingly worried that today’s threats,

但还是有些人越来越担心 如今的各种危机，

like climate change and rising inequality, can’t be solved by any capitalist system.

比如气候变化和加剧的不平等现象， 这些问题不能被

任何资本主义制度解决。

Let’s look at climate change first.

先看看气候变化。

Capitalist economies incentivize growth.

资本主义经济体制激励增长。

That’s created massive demand for the cheapest energy possible,

这创造了对可获得的 最廉价能源的大量需求，

which, for a long time, was fossil fuels.

在很长一段时间里， 就是指化石燃料。

Burning all those fossil fuels unquestionably drove—

燃烧化石能源毫无疑问地已经造成 并将继续造成气候变化。

and continues to drive— climate change.

Not only that, but the desire to maximize profit usually gives corporations

不仅如此，最大化利益的欲望 也给了公司们强有力的动力去

a powerful incentive to ignore inconvenient truths.

忽略一些令人不快的事实。

Just like tobacco companies denied the link between cigarettes and cancer,

例如烟草公司拒绝承认 香烟与癌症之间有关联，

oil and gas companies denied or downplayed climate science for decades.

石油和天然气公司在过去几十年 拒绝承认或淡化气候科学相关发现。

Next, inequality.

接下来，不平等现象。

Inequality is complicated enough that we made a whole video about it,

不平等现象足够复杂， 我们另外单独制作了一集视频。

but the simple story is:

简单概括：

in many countries, inequality is rising.

在很多国家，不平等现象正在加剧。

In the US, the UK, Canada, Ireland, and Australia,

在美国、英国、加拿大、 爱尔兰和澳大利亚，

the top 1% of income earners have been eating up a larger and larger share

收入排名前 1% 的人 在过去 50 年里

占据着越来越多的社会总收入份额。

of total income over the past 50 years.

In the UK, the top 1% share doubled from 7% in 1980 to 14% in 2014.

在英国，前 1% 的人 所占社会总收入的份额

由 1980 年的 7% 翻倍至 2014 年的14%。

But that's not the whole picture.

但是这并不全面。

In England, the country for which we have the best data before capitalism,

资本主义出现以前， 英国的相关数据最为优质，

the share of income going to the top 5% of income earners

其社会总收入流入至 收入排名前 5% 群体的份额

peaked at around 40% in 1801,

在 1801 年达到峰值， 大约为 40% 。

and then, as capitalism took hold, it fell steadily to a low of about 17% in 1977.

接下来，实行了资本主义， 份额稳步下跌至

1977 年的低点，17% 左右。

These days, it’s back up— hovering around 26%.

如今，份额回升—— 徘徊在大约 26% 的位置。

And here’s another data point: in many European countries and Japan,

还有另一组数据： 在很多欧洲国家以及日本，

the top 1%’s share of income came down from 20 to 25% in the early 1900s

前 1% 收入群体的社会总收入份额 由二十世纪初的 20% - 25%，

to 7 to 12% today.

跌倒了如今的 7% - 12%。

So, is capitalism increasing inequality or not?

所以，资本主义是否 加剧了不平等现象？

It depends.

这要看情况。

Remember, there's a wide range of settings that all fall under capitalism,

要记得，刻度盘很多各式各样的设定 都会归类到资本主义类别，

meaning that one country's version can look very different from another's.

意味着一个国家的版本和 另一个国家的可以差别很大。

It’s totally possible that inequality could be increasing

完全有可能中国版本的资本主义 加剧了不平等，

in China’s version of capitalism, while it decreases in France’s.

而法国版本的却降低了。

Capitalism, it seems, is a double-edged sword.

资本主义似乎是把双刃剑。

On the one hand, it generates a huge amount of value,

一方面，它产生了大量价值。

which translates to almost everyone having more money than they otherwise would.

每个人都获得了 与在其他体制相比更多的钱。

On the other hand, it also funnels the biggest chunk of that money

另一方面，它却促使最大份额的钱

into the wallets of relatively few people.

流向了相对来说少数人的钱包。

Capitalism’s staunchest defenders say that with enough grit and determination,

资本主义最坚定的拥护者会说， 靠着足够的毅力和决心，

anyone can join the ranks of the wealthy.

每个人都有机会跻身富人俱乐部。

Is that really true?

这是真的吗？

In a free, capitalist market,

在一个自由的资本主义市场，

the wealth generated by successful companies mostly flows to the owners.

成功的公司们创造的财富 大部分会流向公司拥有者。

And along with that come other benefits:

同时还有其他附加好处：

education, health, social standing, and power.

教育、健康、社会地位以及权力。

If owners tinker with the machine so that it benefits them more than others,

如果公司拥有者鼓捣一下机器 使它更有利于他们自己，

they create a feedback loop where power and everything that flows with it

那就形成了一个闭环，使权力和 围绕它的一切都在巩固自己的家族。

calcifies within their families.

And then you’ve got, basically, an aristocracy.

也就会得到，一个贵族阶级。

So let’s break down the question we started with:

让我们拆分一下开头的问题：

is pure, “invisible hand” capitalism,

将刻度表全部设定为极端值，这样 纯粹“看不见的手”的资本主义制度

with all the dials set to the extremes, broken?

破裂了吗？

Yeah.

是的。

But it’s also kind of irrelevant, since no country uses pure capitalism.

但是这有点不相关，因为没有国家 采用纯粹的资本主义，

Is contemporary capitalism—

这世界很多国家如今实行的 当代资本主义破裂了吗?

as it’s practiced in much of the world today— broken?

Well, it’s the major driver of climate change

它是气候变化的主要推手，

and in many places is contributing to rising inequality.

在很多地区，它助力了 不平等现象的加剧，

And it may even be creating a de facto aristocracy in certain countries,

甚至在一些国家，资本主义 正在制造一个事实上的贵族阶级，

so, not looking good.

所以，看起来不太妙。

The critical question is: can we fix contemporary capitalism

关键问题是：我们能通过拨弄 刻度表盘或者限制可以操作它的人群

by fiddling with the dials or restricting who can turn them,

来修复当代的资本主义吗？

or do we need to tear the machine down and build a new one from scratch?

还是说我们需要推翻它， 然后从头新建一个经济制度？