Law of Supply & Demand: This is the founding block of economics. Whenever supply of something increases its price decreases and whenever supply decreases price increases. Thus, when you have excess production of corn, food prices decrease and vice versa. Think of this intuitively. You will find its applications in 1000s of places。
供求規(guī)律:這是經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)的基石。物品供給增長(zhǎng)則價(jià)格下跌,供應(yīng)減少則價(jià)格上漲。因而谷物產(chǎn)量過(guò)剩,食物價(jià)格則下降;反之亦然。憑直覺(jué)判斷,你會(huì)發(fā)覺(jué)這條定律適應(yīng)于千千萬(wàn)萬(wàn)個(gè)地方。
Growth rate: The growth of an economy is commonly measured in terms of GDP growth rate. Since GDP is a measure of national income, this growth rate is a rough proxy for how an average person's income grows every year。
增長(zhǎng)率:經(jīng)濟(jì)體的增長(zhǎng)一般是依據(jù)國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值增長(zhǎng)率來(lái)衡量的。國(guó)內(nèi)生產(chǎn)總值衡量國(guó)家的收入,所以增長(zhǎng)率可以粗略衡量平均每人每年收入增長(zhǎng)多少。
Inflation: You already know that the price of most products now are higher than in your grandfather's time. Inflation (measured in percent) is measure of how much a bunch of products have increased in price from last year. In mature economies, annual inflation is around 2% - that means on an average the prices of stuff goes up by 2% every year. The fundamental role of central banks is to manage this rate and keep it to a low positive number。
通貨膨脹:你知道現(xiàn)在大部分產(chǎn)品的價(jià)格比你祖父那時(shí)要高得多。通貨膨脹(以百分比計(jì))衡量自上一年起眾多產(chǎn)品價(jià)格的漲幅。成熟的經(jīng)濟(jì)體每年的通貨膨脹率約為2%——即物品價(jià)格平均每年上漲2%。中央銀行的基本作用即控制通脹率,確保其增長(zhǎng)呈小幅態(tài)勢(shì)。
Interest Rates: When you loan money to somebody, you expect something extra in return. This excess is called the interest. Interest rate is a positive number that measures how much excess you will get. In the short term, this rate is usually set by the Central Banks. Right now it is close to zero. In the long term, this is set by the market and is dependent on inflation and the long term prospects of the economy. The mechanisms in which the central banks control the short term rates is called monetary policy。
利率:你借錢給別人時(shí),你便會(huì)有額外的期待,這額外的部分就是利息。利率是衡量你額外獲益多少的一個(gè)正數(shù)。從短期來(lái)看,利率通常是由央行規(guī)定的,現(xiàn)在短期利率接近于0;從長(zhǎng)期來(lái)看,利率是由市場(chǎng)決定的,取決于通貨膨脹和長(zhǎng)遠(yuǎn)的經(jīng)濟(jì)前景。央行控制短期利率的機(jī)制就叫做貨幣政策。
Interest Rates vs. Inflation vs. growth: There exists almost an inverse relationship between interest rates & growth and interest rates also can affect inflation directly. Thus, when you increase interest rates inflation tend to come down, along with growth. One is good and other is bad. Thus, the constant tension on setting the interest rates. In the US, Federal Reserve sets the short term rates making it one of the most watched economic news。
利率、通貨膨脹和增長(zhǎng):利率和增長(zhǎng)呈反相關(guān),利率也會(huì)直接影響通貨膨脹。因此,提高利率時(shí),通貨膨脹會(huì)趨向緩和,增長(zhǎng)也是如此。一方得勢(shì),另一方就失勢(shì)。因此,利率的規(guī)定有恒定的張弛。在美國(guó),美聯(lián)儲(chǔ)制定短期利率是最受關(guān)注的經(jīng)濟(jì)新聞之一。
Fiscal Policy: Government can control the economy in a big way by adjusting its expenditure. The group of mechanisms using expenditure form the fiscal policy. When government spends more it can lead to more demand and that means more price increase. This means both high growth and high inflation. And it works in the reverse too. Thus, governments try to spend more during periods of low growth & low inflation and cut spending during periods of high growth & high inflation。
財(cái)政政策:政府能夠通過(guò)調(diào)整開(kāi)支大力控制經(jīng)濟(jì)?;ㄤN機(jī)制形成財(cái)政政策。政府支出更多時(shí),則會(huì)導(dǎo)致更大需求,即更多價(jià)格上漲,這也意味著高增長(zhǎng)和高通脹;反之亦然。因此,在低增長(zhǎng)和低通脹期間政府就會(huì)設(shè)法加大開(kāi)支,而在高增長(zhǎng)和高通脹期間政府就會(huì)削減開(kāi)支。(來(lái)源:滬江英語(yǔ))