金融世界 第二十講
在這一講中我們要談談過去五十年中對穩定世界經濟作出貢獻的兩個重要國際組織 Iternational Monetary Fund 國際貨幣基金組織和 World Trade Organisation 世界貿易組織及其前身 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade,簡稱 GATT,也就是關稅及貿易總協定的由來和發展。
澳廣金融節目主持人巴里克拉克首先介紹了這兩個國際組織誕生的歷史背景:
These institutions came into existence because policy makers in the United States and the United Kingdom, the dominant players in the post-World War II planning game, wanted to avoid a repeat of the mistakes made during the inter-war years.
From an economic perspective, the period between the two world wars might best be described as an era of instability and collapse. The 1930s saw a drastic contraction of world trade, lower income and high unemployment.
下面我們分段聽一遍巴里克拉克的這段談話和中文翻譯:(英文略)
這些機構的成立是由于美國和英國這兩個在第二次世界大戰后制定計劃時占支配地位國家的領導人希望避免重復在兩次大戰之間那段時期犯的錯誤。
從經濟角度來看,第一次和第二次世界大戰之間的那段時期可以說是動蕩與崩潰的時期。在一九三十年代,世界貿易嚴重收縮,收入降低,失業增加。
接下來我們完整聽一遍巴里克拉克的這段談話。(略)
澳大利亞莫納什大學的里查德斯納普教授對當時的歷史背景作了進一步的解釋。他在談話中使用了這樣一些詞組:
1 international monetary system 國際貨幣秩序
2 currency turmoil 貨幣動蕩
3 erecting trade barriers 設立貿易壁壘
4 bilateralism 雙邊主義
5 preference 優先,特惠
6 contagious 可蔓延(傳染)的
斯納普教授說:
There were two or three main things: one of course was the collapse of the international monetary system with countries restricting payments abroad and access to foreign currencies - and so there was a great deal of currency turmoil. And then, with the onset of recession and depression in the world, you had countries erecting trade barriers, trying in fact to export unemployment, trying to stimulate demand for their own products by keeping imports out.
And this was contagious, so that in the early 1930s, you had a very, very substantial decrease in international trade and, of course, with that, an increase in inefficiency, as countries were trying to do more and more themselves.
You also had a great growth in bilateralism, that instead of trading on a multilateral basis - that is trading with anyone and buying from the cheapest source - you had a whole series of trade agreements where preferences were being given to particular countries.
And so you had three aspects going on really: You had first of all a currency turmoil; you had, secondly, very substantially increasing trade barriers and associated with that and with the Depression greatly decreasing trade; thirdly you had a great deal of channelling of trade with preferred countries.
下面我們分段聽一遍斯納普教授的談話和中文翻譯:(英文略)
主要有兩或三個方面:其中之一當然是各國限制向海外付款和限制兌換外匯,使國際貨幣秩序崩潰,造成極大的貨幣動蕩。然后隨著世界經濟衰退和蕭條的開始,一些國家設立貿易壁壘,試圖轉嫁失業,并停止進口以刺激對本國產品的需求。
各國互相仿效,結果在一九三十年代初國際貿大幅度縮減,同時無效率生產增加,因為各國都嘗試自己來作更多的事。
同時“雙邊主義”也大行其道,各國簽訂許多貿易協議,為某些特定國家提供貿易優惠,以此代替了在多邊基礎上進行的貿易,也就是同所有國家往來、購買最廉價產品的貿易。
因此一共有三個方面的因素:一是貨幣動蕩;二是貿易壁壘大量增加,再加上大蕭條,貿易大幅度縮減;第三是大量通過優惠國渠道進行貿易。
下面我們把斯納普教授對國際貨幣基金組織成立時的歷史背景的介紹再聽一遍。(略)
一九四四年七月,美國總統羅斯福邀請四十四個國家的代表團到美國新罕布什爾州的布雷頓森林舉行聯合國貨幣及金融會議。也就是在這次會議上成立了兩個新的國際組織:International Monetary Fund 國際貨幣基金組織和 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 國際復興開發銀行,俗稱 World Bank 世界銀行。