The age-old sharing economies of Africa -- and why we should scale them | Robert Neuwirth

翻译人员: psjmz mz 校对人员: Jingdan Niu

So what I'm doing

我在做的是

is a thought experiment.

一种思想实验。

Now you may know of or have read

你们可能知道或者读过

this book by this guy.

这个人写的这本书。

It's probably the first and maybe the only bestseller

这可能是第一本 或者是唯一一本

ever written about economics.

关于经济学的畅销书。

And you probably know a bit about what it says.

你们可能都知道里面说的一些观点，

It talks about how nations all over the world will prosper

它讲的是世界上的国家如何通过

through the individual pursuit of individual profit.

个人追求自我的利益而实现繁荣。

Individual profit will be the mechanism for the prosperity of the world.

个人利益就是世界繁荣的机制。

But the funny thing about Adam Smith

但有趣的是，亚当·斯密

is that he was a stay-at-home kind of guy.

是个喜欢宅在家里的人。

He actually never went further from Edinburgh

实际上，他离开爱丁堡 去的最多的地方

than France and Switzerland.

就是法国和瑞士。

So my thought experiment is to imagine

所以我的思想实验是去想象

what would have happened if Adam Smith had visited Africa.

如果亚当·斯密造访非洲会发生什么。

And fortunately, there's actually an easy answer,

幸运的是，确实有个显而易见的答案，

because the Arab lawyer and traveler Ibn Battuta

因为阿拉伯律师和旅行家伊本·白图泰

traveled down the east coast of Africa in the 14th century,

在14 世纪造访过非洲的东海岸。

and what he found when he got to Mogadishu was a market,

当他到达摩加迪休时， 他找到了一个市场，

and he wrote about it.

并且记录了下来。

And basically, merchant ships came to the harbor,

商船进入港口，

and they weren't even allowed to land.

他们甚至不被允许登岸。

They had to drop anchor in the harbor,

他们不得不在港口抛锚，

and boats came out to them,

有小船向他们驶来，

and locals picked them and said, "You are my guest, I am now your broker."

船上的当地人过来迎接，并对他们说： “你们是我的客人，我现在是你的经纪人。”

And they had to do business through the local broker,

而他们得通过本地这些经纪人做生意，

and if they went around that and didn't do business through the broker,

如果他们避开这个规则， 不通过经纪人做生意，

they could go to court, and the deal would be canceled,

他们则必须去法院，交易就会被取消，

and they would be thrown out of town.

然后他们就会被赶出城去。

And through this mechanism, everyone prospered.

通过这种机制，每个人都获得了成功。

And so if that was Adam Smith, he might look like this guy

如果是亚当·斯密， 他可能会看着这个人说，

“啊，那是互助型社会，

and say, "Ah! That's a mutual aid society.

That's a share-the-wealth free market."

是共享财富的自由市场。”

And when I put this question to Christian [Benimana],

当我把这个问题抛给克里斯蒂安时——

who had the stage at the beginning of this session,

他在这个环节的开头做了演讲——

he responded that if Adam Smith had come to Africa,

他回应道如果亚当·斯密去过非洲，

there would have been a sharing economy long before Airbnb and Uber.

可能会发现那里有远早于 Airbnb 和 Uber 的共享经济。

And that's true.

这无疑是真的。

So if we put this to work today,

所以如果今天把这应用到工作中，

it would be very interesting.

会显得非常有趣。

There would be a lot of money flowing into the countries.

可能会有大量的钱涌入这些国家。

These are just figures of 10 percent of exports in these countries.

这是这些国家出口数字的 10%。

So the interesting thing is that this mutual aid economy still exists,

有趣的是，这些经济互助仍然存在，

and we can find examples of it in the strangest places.

我们可以在最奇怪的地方 找到这些例子。

So, this is Alaba International Market.

这是阿拉巴国际市场，

It's the largest electronics market in West Africa.

它是西非最大的电子市场。

It's 10,000 merchants,

有 1 万多个商家，

they do about four billion dollars of turnover every year.

每年的营业额多达 40 亿美元。

And they say they are ardent apostles of Adam Smith:

他们说他们是亚当·斯密的忠实信徒：

competition is great, we're all in it individually,

竞争非常激烈，我们全靠自己，

government doesn't help us.

政府不会出手相助。

But the interesting reality is that when I asked further,

但有趣的是，在一番刨根问底以后，

that's not what grew the market at all.

我发现这并非驱动市场发展的原因。

There's a behind-the-scenes principle

有一些背后的原则

that enables this market to grow.

在驱动市场的成长。

And they do claim -- you know, this is an interesting juxtaposition

他们也确实提到——比如有趣的是， 钦定本圣经和《如何推销自己》

of the King James Bible and "How To Sell Yourself."

并存于他们的生活。

That's what they say is their message.

这是他们话里传达的信息。

But in reality, this market is governed by a sharing principle.

但现实中，这个市场是由 共享原则来管理的。

Every merchant, when you ask them, "How did you get started in global trade?"

当你问每个商人， “你是如何开始全球贸易的？”

they say, "Well, when my master settled me."

他们说： “当我师傅帮我安排解决时。”

And when I finally got it into my head to ask, "What is this 'settling?'"

当我终于在脑子里产生这个概念时， 我问道，“这个‘安排’是什么？”

it turns out that when you've done your apprenticeship

结果发现原来是当你不再是

with someone you work for,

某个人的学徒时。

they are required -- required -- to set you up in business.

这个人需要——“必须”—— 帮你安排好你的事业。

That means paying your rent for two or three years

那意味着他们需要 支付你2-3年的租金，

and giving you a cash infusion

为你提供资金支持，

so you can go out in the world and start trading.

这样你就可以出去开展贸易了。

That's locally generated venture capital. Right?

这就是本地自发的风险资本。

And I can say with almost certainty

我几乎可以肯定地说，

that the Igbo apprenticeship system that governs Alaba International Market

管理阿拉巴国际市场的伊博学徒制

is the largest business incubator platform in the world.

是世界上最大的企业孵化器。

And there are other sharing economies that we look for --

我们也调查了其他共享经济——

merry-go-rounds, which are found in almost every shantytown.

转马制度，几乎可以 在每一个贫穷角落发现。

They have different names in other cultures; this is the Kenyan name.

这个概念在不同的文化中 有不同的名字，这是肯尼亚的命名。

It's a way of generating cash.

这是一种产生现金的方式。

It's a kitty -- people throw money into a pot once a week,

人们每周丢一次钱到盆里，

and once a week, one member of the group gets the money,

每周，社区中有一个人 可以拿到这笔钱，

可以把这钱花在任何他想花的地方。

and they can spend it on whatever they need to.

And there's also something called "acequias,"

还有一种叫做“灌溉水渠”，

and that is a Spanish word, but it comes from the North African Arabic;

这是西班牙语， 但起源于北非阿拉伯语，

"saqiya" means "water wheel."

“波斯轮”意思是“水车”。

And what the acequia is is a sharing system for scarce water.

灌溉水渠是稀缺水资源的共享系统。

It's migrated from North Africa to Spain,

它从北非迁移至西班牙，

and from Spain to the west of the United States,

又从西班牙到美国西部，

where it still is used.

至今仍然在使用。

And it shares water by need

它是按需共享水资源，

rather than by who was there first.

而不是先到先得。

And contrary, with all due respect, to what Llew [Claasen] said

相反，恕我直言，卢·克拉森

when he talked about blockchains and cryptocurrencies yesterday,

昨天提到的区块链和加密货币，

there is no tragedy of the commons.

在这一领域并没有 发生公共资源的悲剧。

People in acequias have been commonly managing scarce water resources

使用灌溉水渠的人 共同管理稀缺水资源

for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years.

有着悠久的历史。

So taking this thought experiment, I wanted to go a little bit further

那么关于这个思想实验， 我想再深入一点，

and suggest that these things are managed communally,

我建议这些事情可以共同管理，

and they are taking care of scarce capital, scarce cash

它们会应对稀缺资本，稀缺现金

and scarce resources.

和稀缺资源。

And it seems to me that we have actually two kinds of capitalism.

在我看起来，我们其实 有两种类型的资本主义。

We have the capitalism of the top up.

我们有顶层资本主义。

And these are really interesting statistics,

这里有一些有趣的统计，

because three one-thousandths of one percent of the Nigerian population

因为千分之三的尼日利亚人

controls wealth equal to one-fourth of the GDP of the country.

控制着相当于该国 1/4 GDP 的财富。

One one-hundredth of one percent of the Kenyan population

百分之一的肯尼亚人

controls wealth equal to 75 percent of the GDP of the country.

控制着相当于该国 75% GDP 的财富。

That's the capitalism of top up.

这就是顶层资本主义。

And everyone else is with this guy,

而其他人跟这个人一样，

selling board games and bodybuilding equipment

在拉各斯的慢行高速公路上

in a go-slow on the highway in Lagos.

销售桌面游戏和健身器材。

And when you're selling board games and bodybuilding equipment in a go-slow,

而当你在慢行的路上 销售桌面游戏和健身器材时，

that traffic jam is really, really, really bad, right?

说明交通拥堵真的 非常，非常糟糕，对吗？

Those of us in this sphere of the economy

在这种经济环境中的人

are caught in what I call "the capitalism of decay,"

陷入了我称之为 “腐朽资本主义”的环境中，

because there's no way to rise up and get out of it,

因为没有办法站起来摆脱它，

because they're lacking the resources that we talked about

因为他们缺少了我们所谈论的

那些共享经济中的资源。

in those sharing economies.

And they're tripped up

他们被

by the thesis of cassava and capitalism,

一个叫“木薯和资本主义”理论绊倒了。

that cassava has to be processed in order not to be poisonous,

木薯需要处理才不会中毒，

and I would argue that, similarly,

我会争论说，同样，

the market economy needs to be processed in order to be fair to everyone.

资本主义也需要处理 才能对每个人公平。

So we have to look at what I call the "bottom down economy."

所以我们需要去看看我称之为 “自下而上经济”的概念。

These are these sharing models that exist out there

这些现存的共享模型

that need to be propagated and used and scaled.

需要被传播，使用和规模化。

OK?

我说清楚了吗？

And if we propagate these things,

如果我们推广这些东西，

we can begin to bring infrastructure to everyone,

就可以开始为每个人带去基础设施，

and that will ensure that communities

可以确保社区

are leading their own development,

能够引领自我发展，

which is, I believe, what we need in the world,

我相信这是我们的世界所需要的，

and, I would suggest, what we need in Africa.

我认为这也是非洲所需要的。

I wanted to quote Steve Biko,

我想引用史蒂夫·比科的名言，

and I thought it was really important to quote Steve Biko,

我觉得在这里引用 他的名言是非常重要的，

because next month, September 12 to be exact,

因为下个月，准确说是 9 月 12 号，

is the 40th anniversary of his murder by the South African state.

是他被南非政党谋杀 40 周年的纪念日。

And you can read the quote.

你可以读到那句引言。

He basically said that we're not here to compete.

大意是说，我们不是为竞争而来。

And I love this quote: "... to make us a community of brothers and sisters

我喜欢他那句话： “...让我们成为兄弟姐妹，

jointly involved in the quest for a composite answer

共同参与寻求生活中

to the varied problems of life."

各种问题的综合答案。”

And he also said that "the great powers of the world

他也说过：“世界的伟大力量

have done wonders in giving us an industrial and military look, ..."

已经创造了工业和军事的奇迹...”

and we don't have to copy that military-industrialist complex,

但我们不必去复制 那个军事-工业的发展路径，

because Africa can do things differently

因为非洲可以做点不同的东西，

and restore the humanity of the world.

去恢复世界的人性。

And so what I want to suggest here

所以我在想要建议的是，

is that we have an opportunity,

我们拥有机遇，

that we are all here in the mutual landscape

我们都在同样的环境中，

to be able to do things,

我们能够去做一些事情，

and that the journey starts now.

现在，这个旅途开始了。

Thank you very much.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（鼓掌）