【经济学人】白芝浩专栏—人民资本主义，卷土重来！ [英国媒体]

Bagehot

The Conservative Party is debating the merits of capitalism

保守党正在就资本主义的优缺点展开辩论

Three schools of thought are emerging on how to deal with the crisis of confidence in free markets

保守党三大学派正在考虑如何应对自由市场的信任危机



Oct 12th 2017 --2017年10月12日

THE most exciting, if also the most troubling, change in British politics in recent years is the rebirth of ideology. During the Blair-Brown-Cameron years, political debate was imprisoned in the gilded cage of economic and social liberalism. Today that cage lies in pieces, smashed by the triple hammer-blows of the financial crisis, Brexit and Jeremy Corbyn, Labour’s socialist leader. Britain is consumed by fundamental arguments: about the role of the nation-state in a global economy; about the costs and benefits of immigration; and about the merits of capitalism.

近年来，英国政坛最激动人心的，或许亦是最令人烦恼的变化，就是意识形态的重新兴起。在托尼·布莱尔、戈登·布朗、大卫·卡梅伦主政时期，政策辩论的范围局限于经济和社会自由度构建的囚笼，而如今随着经济危机、脱欧、科尔宾崛起的三重冲击，该囚笼已支离破碎。英国正陷入一场基本概念的争议之中：在全球化经济体系下政府所扮演的角色，移民的利与弊，以及资本主义的优缺点

Surprisingly, the most wide-ranging discussion of capitalism is taking place on the right. On the left, Mr Corbyn has imposed strict rules on the debate. On the right, anything goes: Tories have taken to quoting Yanis Varoufakis, a hard-left Greek economist, and Robert Reich, a soft-left American academic who once worked in the Clinton administration and author, most recently, of “Saving Capitalism”. Peering through the ideological confusion you can just about discern three groups.

真是令人惊讶啊，对资本主义体系的全面讨论居然发生在右翼政党之中，在工党内部，科尔宾就体制的辩论设下了种种限制，而在保守党这边，一切皆有可能：保守党员们引用了希腊极左经济学家扬尼斯·瓦鲁法克斯的言论，以及曾在克林顿政府任职的美国温和左派作家兼学者罗伯特·莱奇近年的新书《拯救资本主义》。从如此混乱的意识形态讨论中，我们可以看到不同的三种学派

Maggie v Marx

撒切尔主义与马克思主义的较量

The first consists of unreconstructed Thatcherites who think that all you need to do is replay old vinyl records of Margaret Thatcher’s speeches, preferably at top volume, and the electorate will return to the true faith. This group sees Brexit as an opportunity to renew Britain’s commitment to tariff-free trade on a global scale. It argues that the solution to the problems that are driving young voters to the left lies in rolling back the state rather than rolling it forward. An article on the housing crisis by Oliver Wiseman on CapX, a news website, captured this group’s spirit in a line: “Capitalism isn’t the problem. Capitalism is the solution.”

第一种学派由矢志不渝的撒切尔主义者组成，他们认为只要重复播放撒切尔夫人演说的黑胶唱片，最好是把音量开到最大，就能够使老百姓重拾信心。该团体将脱欧视作一次使英国重拾全球化自由贸易承诺的机会，认为目前年轻选民越来越被带向左翼，解决这个问题的最好方法是恢复旧体制，而不是向前推进。奥利弗·怀斯曼在右倾网站《资本X》上发表了一篇关于住房危机的文章，其中一句话使我们认识到这派人马的特色：“资本主义制度不是问题的所在，资本主义是解决问题的方法。”

译者注：撒切尔主义的核心内容就是新保守主义，采取紧缩的经济政策，鼓励私有化，鼓励自由市场，放松政府的强制干预，希望市场的自我调节来解决经济滞胀

In addition to the fact that they seem as dated as vinyl records, the Thatcherites suffer from a couple of big problems. They have played their winning cards: it was easy to win support in the 1980s when you were selling off council houses or shares in public utilities, but much more difficult when you are grappling with the problem of a shortage of affordable housing or high utility prices. And many people voted for Brexit in order to reassert control over the market, not to let it rip.

该学派的思想和黑胶唱片一样老旧不堪，除了理念过时外，撒切尔主义者还有一系列大麻烦待解决，他们所依仗的王牌是：在上世纪80年代，若将公共住房或其股份打包出售，此举很容易赢得大量选民。但这一招如今已经不灵了，因为缺乏廉价的房源或者卖不出很高的价格。脱欧公投中，许多人投脱欧票是为了寄希望于重新获得对市场的控制权，而不是顺其自然

The second group wants to return to the One Nation Toryism that dominated the party before Thatcher. This group emphasises the creative power of the state to solve pressing social problems such as the shortage of affordable homes or the rise in energy prices. But it frequently comes across as nothing more than Corbyn-lite. By conceding that Mr Corbyn has a point on social housing or university fees but then offering tame solutions, such as freezing fees at ￡9,250 ($12,200) or building just 25,000 more social homes, the doctrine is in danger of simply whetting the appetite for Mr Corbyn’s Special Brew. The Conservative Party’s problems are deepened by the fact that its leadership swings wildly between these two positions. One moment Theresa May is celebrating the free market and condemning Mr Corbyn as a Venezuelan-style socialist and the next she is lamenting the failures of the market and aping his policies.

第二种学派则希望恢复到一国保守主义，这类思想在撒切尔夫人上台前一直于党内占主导地位。该学派强调的是政府在解决迫在眉睫的社会问题过程中（譬如廉价住房短缺、能源费上涨等）应当展现出创造力，但常常给人的印象是只不过是科尔宾主义的弱化版，并不比科尔宾高明到哪里去。该学派认同科尔宾在公共住房和学生学费上的观点，但同时采取相对温和的解决方案，譬如将学费控制在9250英镑一年或者仅额外增加2万5千套公共住房，这样的信条可谓是危险异常，很容易激发选民对全面执行科尔宾主义纲领的渴望（给科尔宾送人头）。尤其是当保守党的领导阶层在一国保守主义和科尔宾主义之间摇摆不定时，该问题就会被放大，譬如有时梅姨会高举自由市场大旗并谴责科尔宾是一位委内瑞拉式的社会主义份子，但下一刻她又为自由市场的失灵而哀叹并开始效仿科尔宾的政策。

A third group of (mostly younger) Tories is trying to produce a more sophisticated message: one that recognises that, after several decades of pro-market policies, Britain still suffers from low productivity and social exclusion, but also grasps that the solution to these problems does not lie in going back to the big-government corporatism of the 1970s. These Tories are more open than the Thatcherites to giving the state a bigger role in helping the disadvantaged, but they are also more aware than the One Nation Tories of the creative power of capitalism.

第三种学派的保守党员（大部分相对较年轻）试图采取一种较为复杂的思想方法：该学派认识到，经历过数十年的亲市场政策后，英国仍被生产力低下及社会排斥性所困扰，但同时该学派认为，解决这些问题的方法不应该是回复到上世纪70年代所采取的大政府主义政策。此类保守党员比第一种学派的撒切尔主义者更开明，赞同政府应在帮助弱势群体方面扮演更重要的角色，但他们也比第二种学派的一国保守主义者更多地认识到资本主义的创造力

Lots of ideas are floating around, such as giving shareholders a mandatory vote on bosses’ pay, encouraging companies to give shares to workers, and making it easier for family firms to go public without sacrificing control, through voting and non-voting shares. The danger is that these ideas become no more than a hotch-potch. To succeed, their proponents must focus on two guiding themes. The first is confronting Britain’s new vested interests. Thatcher and her successors took on trade unions and other working-class interest groups. They were much less successful with professional interest groups, which have done a remarkable job of protecting themselves from the downside of the market while enjoying the upside. Public-sector bosses enjoy a combination of private-sector pay and public-sector perks, from grace-and-favour flats to guaranteed gongs. The heads of public firms have seen their pay escalate regardless of performance.

该学派的思想成果就萦绕在我们身边，具体表现为：给予广大股东投票决定企业所有者薪酬的权利、鼓励公司将股份授予普通员工、通过将股份分为有无表决权来使得家族企业在不损失控制权的情况下更容易上市等等。而不足之处就在于这些思想显得有些散乱，为了取得成功，发起者们需要遵从两大指导课题：其一，与英国新崛起的特权阶级搞好关系。撒切尔夫人及其继任者打击了工会力量及其他工人阶级利益集团，也没有成功处理好与传统利益集团的关系，而传统利益集团在规避市场下行风险，抓住市场上行机遇方面可是存在颇多建树。公共事业单位所有者们所偏爱的是私营企业薪酬制度+公共事业单位福利制度的结合体，譬如福利分房、授勋等。在过去，这些所有者薪酬的涨幅是与公司的业绩无关的

The second theme is recognising the power of entrepreneurs. This ought to be obvious. Thatcher’s most enduring achievement was not selling off houses or utilities but freeing businesspeople from the serpentine grip of the state. The internet has increased the power of entrepreneurs to start businesses from nothing and to transform idle resources (such as spare rooms) into economic inputs. Britain is a world leader in fintech and artificial intelligence. But the current Tory leadership is blind to all of this. Its election manifesto was silent on wealth creation. Mrs May knows nothing about business. Philip Hammond, the chancellor, is interested in spreadsheets rather than world-transforming ideas. Greg Clark, the secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, makes Spreadsheet Phil look charismatic.

其二，需认识到企业家的力量。显而易见的是，撒切尔夫人最具持久性的成就并不是将住房或产业打包出售，而是将广大经营者从政府监管的繁重枷锁中解放出来，互联网的兴起可以使企业家们白手起家，将闲置资源（譬如空房）转化为经济投入。英国在金融科技和人工智能方面处于世界领先地位，但现任保守党政府却对其视而不见，在6月大选中，保守党纲领只字未提财富创造，梅姨对做生意一窍不通，财相菲利普·哈蒙德（昵称：菲尔“表哥”）胸无大志，只关心把帐做平，而商业、能源、产业大臣格雷格·克拉克呢？ 和他比起来，菲尔“表哥”就是个天才啊

The ideological turmoil that Britain is experiencing is forcing the country to confront long-buried problems. The risk is that it comes up with answers that end up entrenching them. It should not give more power to trade unions, as Mr Corbyn argues. Nor should it apply capitalism with a few cosmetic fixes, as Mrs May seems to think. The answer is a rebooted capitalism for a new economic era, using the power of the state where it is necessary to fix market failures and to break up vested interests, but also recognising the unique power of entrepreneurs to produce abundance out of scarcity and dynamism out of stagnation.

意识形态的大混乱使得英国许多被掩盖已久的问题再度浮上水面，若处理不当，这些问题会变本加厉。就当前的情况而言，我们既不能如科尔宾要求的授予工会更大的权力，也不该像梅姨所认为的对资本主义制度采取一些不痛不痒的表明调整，解决这些问题的答案应当是在新经济时代下重新激发资本主义制度的活力，运用一切有必要的政府手段来对市场失灵进行调控，在对既得利益集团进行重新洗牌时，也要兼顾考虑到企业家们从匮乏中创造富足、从停滞中创造动力的独特才能。