問題詳情
請依下文回答第 46 題至第 50 題For decades inflation was the bogeyman in rich countries. But now some economists reckon that deflation, orfalling prices, may be a more serious threat—in America and Europe as well as Japan. That would be decidedlyawkward, given the surge in borrowing by firms and households in recent years. Particularly worrying is the rise inborrowing by American households to finance purchases of houses, cars or luxury goods. Deflation would swell thereal burden of these debts, forcing consumers to cut their spending.Deflation is not necessarily bad. If falling prices are caused by faster productivity growth, as happened in the late19th century, then it can go hand in hand with robust growth. On the other hand, if deflation reflects a slump in demandand excess capacity, it can be dangerous, as it was in the 1930s, triggering a downward spiral of demand and prices.Today, both the good and bad sorts of deflation are at work. Some prices are falling because of productivity gains,thanks to information technology. But the weakness of profits suggests that most deflation is now bad, not good.Deflation is particularly harmful when an economy is awash with debt. Total private-sector debt is now much higherthan when deflation was last experienced in the 1930s. Falling prices not only increase the real burden of debt, theyalso make it impossible for a central bank to deliver negative real interest rates, because nominal rates cannot go belowzero.If deflation causes real debts to swell, debtors may have to cut spending and sell assets to meet their payments.This can unleash a vicious spiral of falling incomes, asset prices and rising real debt. Irving Fisher, an Americaneconomist, described this process in a famous article in 1993 entitled “The Debt-Deflation Theory of GreatDepressions”. He described how attempts by individuals to reduce their debt burden by cutting costs couldparadoxically cause their debt burden to swell. Unable to increase prices to boost profits, firms have to cut costs, eitherby reducing labour costs and hence household income or by buying less from other firms. This is sensible for anindividual firm, but it reduces demand in the economy, thwarting the desired improvement in profit, leading to anotherround of cuts and putting further downward pressure on prices.
【題組】46 The word “bogeyman” is used to express that inflation was
(A)frightening
(B) well studied
(C) not a problem
(D) surprising
參考答案
答案：A
難度：適中0.57935
統計：A(606),B(145),C(206),D(89),E(0)
用户評論
【Nadia Chang】評論
For decades （幾十年來） inflation （自大/通膨）was the bogeyman(鬼怪）in rich countries.---幾十年來通貨膨帳一直是富有國家的一隻鬼怪.But now some economists reckon （計算）that deflation（通貨緊縮）, or falling prices, may be a more serious threat（威脅）—in America and Europe as well as Japan.---但現在有些經濟學家計算美國.歐洲.甚至日本的通貨緊縮甚至有著更嚴重的經濟威脅That would be decidedly（明確地） awkward（棘手的）, given the surge in borrowing by firms and households家庭 in recent years.--對於那些近年借給公司或家庭單位的通貨問題,它們的確是相當棘手.Particularly worrying is...
【“勞謙君子，有終吉”】評論
幾十年來，通貨膨脹是富裕國家的怪物。但現在一些經濟學家認為，通縮或價格下跌可能是更嚴重的威脅 - 在美國和歐洲以及日本。考慮到近年來企業和家庭的借貸激增，這將顯得尷尬。尤其令人擔憂的是，美國家庭借款為購買房屋，汽車或奢侈品提供資金。通縮會增加這些債務的實際負擔，迫使消費者削減支出。通縮不一定是壞事。如果價格下跌是由於生產率的快速增長（如19世紀末發生的那樣）造成的，那麼它可以與強勁增長並駕齊驅。另一方面，如果通貨緊縮反映了需求下降和產能過剩，那麼和20世紀30年代一樣，這可能是危險的，導致需求和價格如螺旋般下降。今天，好的和壞的通貨緊縮都在起作用。由於信息技術的原因，一些價格因生產力的提高而下降。但利...