《经济学家》读译参考：推心置腹－世行与货币基金组织争风吃醋(1)

Sister-talk
　　推心置腹 （陈继龙 译）

　　Mar 1st 2007
　　From The Economist print edition

　　Relationship counselling for the fund and the bank
　　国际货币基金组织与世界银行应处理好关系

　　CONCEIVED at the same Bretton Woods conference in 1944, the IMF and the World Bank are neither identical twins, nor always very fraternal[1] .The fund is buttoned-up[2] , hierarchical and preoccupied with hard money and sound budgets. Its sister, by contrast, is loose-limbed, sprawling and a bit of a dilettante[3] , worrying about greenery, equality and empowerment, as well as poverty.

　　国际货币基金组织（IMF）和世界银行都是1944年布雷顿森林（Bretton Woods）会议的产物，但两者既非“同卵双生”，亦非总是亲密无间。IMF生性内敛，做事按部就班，一心只想管好硬通货，安排好预算。相反，它的“姐妹”却爱漫无目的地四处招摇，对绿化、平等、权力以及贫穷等问题，它都要“先天下忧”，结果却都浅尝辄止。

　　Inevitably, they squabble[4] . In moments of crisis, the bank is rudely press-ganged[5] into the fund's rescue missions. In today's quieter interludes, the fund itches[6] to offer help, on things such as pensions and insurance, that the bank is perhaps better placed to provide.

　　为此，“姐妹俩”免不了会争风吃醋。危机时刻，世界银行被强行“抓了当差”帮助基金组织实施援助工作。在当今这段较为平和的时期，诸如养老金和保险金之类世界银行自己就能从容驾驭的事情，基金组织却急不可耐地想要插上一脚。

　　Last March the two sisters asked Pedro Malan, Brazil's former finance minister, and five other notables to examine their relations at length. This week they released their report. It concludes that the fund and the bank should talk to each other more and step on each other's toes[7] less.

　　去年3月，“姐妹俩”请巴西前财长佩德罗?马伦（Pedro Malan）和其他五位知名人士帮忙对两者的关系给仔细“诊了脉”。本周出炉的报告给出的诊断结论是：基金组织和世界银行相互之间应该多推心置腹，少越俎代庖。

　　They should swap[8] staff, and their leaders should make joint plans about the future. But in their operations, a bit of distance would help. The report sees little reason for the fund to provide long-term loans to countries in deep poverty but not in acute crisis. The money is supposed to meet a “protracted balance-of-payments need”. But this concept is so vague as to be almost indistinguishable from development aid, the report argues.

　　它们应当开展人事交流，双方领导人应该共同制定未来发展计划。不过，在实际操作过程中，两者之间保持些许距离还是会有所裨益的。该报告认为IMF不应向非处于紧急状态的贫穷国家贷款，它的资金应用于纠正“国际收支失调”。但同时该报告也认为这个概念（即纠正“国际收支失调”）本是就是模糊的，不容易同发展援助的概念相区分。

　　The amount of this lending has fallen in recent years. But it has grown as a share of the fund's shrinking portfolio. The IMF's natural clients in emerging Asia and Latin America have repaid their loans and amassed[9] their own defences against financial crises. This has left the fund all suited up with nowhere to go. The bank's mission, on the other hand, now spans all the world's least tractable problems. It is in no danger of ever putting itself out of a job.

　　近年来这种贷款总额已直线下降，但基金组织投资组合总体缩水，以致贷款所占比例不减反增。在新兴的亚洲和拉丁美洲，贷款国家已经清偿了IMF所贷款项，并且对金融危机的自我防范能力也越来越强，导致基金组织已无法物色到合适的贷款对象。另一方面，世界银行现在的任务遍及全球，而且全是一些最容易处理的问题。它用不着担心别人再抢它的饭碗了。

　　The bank has also begun to look beyond policies at the deep, social “institutions” that underpin[10] prosperity or poverty. This reflects a turn in the thinking of academic economists, who are now keen to excavate a country's political roots in search of explanations of their diverging fortunes.

　　此外，世界银行的眼光不再只盯着政策不放，开始关注那些促进繁荣或者加重贫穷、（传统、习俗）等深层次的社会原因。这表明世行学院经济学家们的思维正在发生转变。他们很想从政治根源上，找到某个国家财富分布不平衡的原因。

　　One exemplar of this approach is Simon Johnson of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. No surprise then that he will now take up a big job on one side of “19th street”, which separates the headquarters of the two siblings.

　　麻省理工学院的西蒙?约翰逊（Simon Johnson）是采用这一方式的代表人物之一。他现在能在“第19号大街”一侧谋得高职，并不奇怪。世界银行与世界货币基金组织这“姐妹俩”的总部正是位于这条大街的两侧。

　　What is slightly odd is the sister who picked him. The fund has been trying for months to replace Raghuram Rajan, its chief economist. The job was reportedly offered to Olivier Blanchard, one of the great living macroeconomists, and Elhanan Helpman, a great trade economist. Eventually it fell to Mr Johnson.

　　稍稍有点奇怪的是选中他的那个“姐（妹）”。数月来基金组织一直想撤换其首席经济学家拉古拉姆?拉扬（Raghuram Rajan）。有报道曾说这一职位已经给了健在宏观经济学大师奥利维尔?布兰查德（Olivier Blanchard），也有的说给了杰出贸易经济学家艾尔哈南?赫尔普曼（Elhanan Helpman），可最终却花落约翰逊头上。

　　He has recently worked under Mr Rajan, but he is no particular authority on misaligned exchange rates or capital-flow reversals. In fact, his appointment is perhaps a symbol of the fund's wider predicament. Cursed by uninteresting times and unsure of its role, it cannot count on attracting the people it wants. It therefore finds itself courting an economist who would look more at home across the street. Having fallen out of fashion, the fund has started trying on its sister's clothes.

　　不久前他曾在拉扬手下谋过事，但在汇率失调和资本流动逆转方面他还算不上是行家里手。事实上，他的出任也许正是基金组织困难重重的表现之一。苦于时代的索然无味，职能定位不明的基金组织根本无法吸引自己心仪的人才。因此它也明知这次求爷爷告奶奶请来的经济学家会身在曹营心在汉。跟不上潮流，基金组织又开始管世界银行的“闲事”了。