国贸1201班第二章翻译完整版

1-10段
One of the principal problems of political economy emphasized by the opening quote from Keynes is deciding on the appropriate boundary between state and market. We can better understand the issues if we examine how the boundaries evolved to their present point. In medieval times, the aristocracy and town guilds directed much of the economic activity in Europe and Asia. However, about two centuries ago, government began to exercise less and less power over prices and production methods. Gradually, the restraints of feudalism were replaced by what we call th e “market mechanism” or “competitive capitalism.”
一个政治经济存在的主要问题，强调了开放引自凯因斯是决定国家和市场之间的合理边界。

我们可以更好的理解的问题，如果我们研究如何发展到目前的边界点。

在中世纪，贵族和城市行会向多在欧洲和亚洲的经济活动。

然而，大约两个世纪以前，政府开始行使价格和生产方法越来越少。

渐渐地，封建制度的约束是由我们所称的“市场机制”或“竞争资本主义取代。

”
ope and North America, the nineteen century became the ago of lasses-faire. This doctrine, which translates as “leave us alone,” holds that government should interfere as little as possible in economics affairs and leave economic decisions to the interplay of supply and demand in the marketplace. Many governments espoused this economic philosophy in the middle of the nineteen century.
开放和北美国，上世纪十九年代成为少女放任的前。

这一学说，即“离开我们，”认为，政府应该干预尽可能少的经济事务，让经济决策的供应和需求在市场上的相互作用。

许多国家的政府支持这种经济哲学在中东的十九个世纪。

Nevertheless, by the end of the century, the unbridled excesses of capitalism led the United States and the industrialized countries of Western Europe to retreat from full laissez-faire. Government assumed a steadily expanding economic role, regulating monopolies, colleting income taxes, and taking on such tasks as providing support for the elderly (social security). This new system ,called the welfare state, is one in which markets direct the detailed activities of day-to-day economic life while governments regulate social conditions and provide pensions, health care, and the other aspects of social safety net.
然而，到本世纪末，资本主义的肆无忌惮的暴行LED美国和西欧工业化国家退出完全放任。

政府承担了稳步扩张的经济作用，限制垄断，搜集所得税，并以这样的任务是为老年人提供支持（社会保障）。

这个新的系统，称为福利国家，是一个市场直接详细的活动的日常经济生活，政府调节社会条件和养老金，提供医疗保健，和其他方面的社会安全网。

Under the guiding hand of government, the market economics of Western Europe and North America flourished in the three decades after World War II. Those years witnessed an unprecedented period of sustained economic growth and prosperity. Then, around 1980, the tides shifted again, as conservative governments in many countries began to reduce taxes and
deregulate government’s control over the economy. Particularly influential was the “Reagan revolution,” which changed public attitudes about taxes and government and reversed the trends in U.S. federal spending on civilian programs.
政府的引导下，西欧和北美国市场经济蓬勃发展的三年第二次世界大战后。

那些年里，目睹了空前的持续的经济增长和繁荣。

然后，在1980，潮汐再次移动，在许多国家的保守党政府开始减少税收和减少对经济的政府控制。

特别是有影响力的是“里根革命”，“这改变了公众对税收和政府的态度和逆转的趋势在美国联邦政府花在民用项目。

The most dramatic turn toward the market came in Russia and the countries of Eastern Europe. After decades of extolling the advantages of central planning and a government-run command economy, these countries started to make the difficult transition to a decentralized, market economy. China, while still run by the dictatorship of the Communist party, has enjoyed an economic boom in the late 1980s and early 1990s by allowing markets to operate within its borders. Developing countries like Taiwan, Thailand, and Chile have enjoyed rapid income growth by embracing capitalism and reducing the role of government in their economics.
对市场最戏剧性的转变是在俄罗斯和东欧国家。

在对中央计划和政府运行的命令经济优势的几十年里，这些国家开始把分散的艰难转型，市场经济。

在中国，仍然由共产党的专政，得到在20世纪80年代末90年代初的经济繁荣，让市场在其边界内的操作。

发展中国家如台湾，泰国，智利有收入增长迅速，通过拥抱资本主义和减少政府在经济中的作用。

This capsule history of the shifting balance between state and market will naturally raise many questions. What exactly a market economy, and what makes it so powerful? What is the “capital” in “capitalism”? What government controls are needed to help markets? The time has come to understand the principles that lie behind the market economy and to review government’s role in economic life.
这种胶囊的历史的国家和市场之间的平衡转变自然会提出很多问题。

什么是市场经济，又是什么让它如此强大？什么是“资本”在“资本主义”？需要什么帮助市场政府管制？时间来理解的原则背后的市场经济和审查政府对经济生活的作用。

We usually take for granted the smooth running of the economy. When you go to the supermarket, the items you want—bread, cereal, and bananas are usually on the shelf. You pay you bill, pop the food in your mouth, and have a juicy meal. What could be simpler?
我们通常认为经济的顺利运行。

当你去超市的时候，你需要的产品面包，谷物，和香蕉通常放在架子上。

你付你的账单，流行的食物在你的嘴里，并有一个多汁餐。

还有更简单的呢？
you pause for a moment and look more closely, you may begin to appreciate the complexity of the economic system that provides your daily bread. The food may have passed through five or ten links before getting
to you, traveling for days or months from every state and every corner of the globe as it moved along the chain of the farmers, food processors, packages, truckers, wholesalers, and retailers. It seems almost a miracle that food is produced in suitable amounts, gets transported to the right place, and arrives in a palatable from at the table dinner.
你停一会儿，仔细看，你会开始意识到经济系统的复杂性提供你每日的面包。

这食物可能通过五个或十个环节之前，你的旅行，从每一个州和世界各地的几天或几个月就沿着食物链的农民，处理器，包，卡车司机，批发商，零售商。

食品似乎是适合生产的数量几乎是一个奇迹，被运送到正确的地方，到美味的晚饭。

But the true miracle is that this entire system works without coercion or centralized direction by anybody. Literally millions of business and consumers engage in voluntary trade, and their actions and purposes are invisibly coordinated by a system of prices and markets. Nobody decides how many chickens will be produced, where the trucks will drive, and when the supermarkets will open. Still, in the end, the food is in the store when you want it.
但真正的奇迹是，整个系统工作不受强迫或集中指挥的人。

数以百万计的企业和消费者参与自愿的交易，他们的行动，目的是不协调的价格和市场体系。

没有人决定多少只鸡将生产，那里的卡车将驱动，当超市将开放。

然而，在最后，食物是当你想保存它。

Markets perform similar miracles around us all the time, as can easily be seen if only we observe our economy carefully. Thousands of commodities are produced by millions of people, willingly, without central direction or master plan. Indeed, with a few important exceptions (like the military, police, and schools) most of our economic life proceeds without government intervention, and that’s the true wonder of the social world.
市场执行类似的奇迹在我们周围所有的时间，可以很容易看出如果我们仔细观察我们的经济。

成千上万的商品是由数以百万计的人，心甘情愿，没有统一的领导和计划。

事实上，有一些重要的例外（如军队，警察，和学校）我们经济生活的最没有政府干预的收益，这是社会世界的真正的奇迹。

11-13段
A market economy is an elaborate Mechanism for coordinating people，activities，and businesses through a system of prices and markets.It is a communication device for pooling the knowledge and actions of billions of diverse individuals.Without central intelligence or computation，it solves problems of production and distribution involving billions of unknown variables and relations，problems that are far beyond the reach of even today’s fastest supercomputer.Nobody designed the market，yet it functions remarkably well.In a market economy，so single individual or organization is responsible for production，consumption，distribution，and pricing.
市场经济是一种精心设计机制协调人们，活动和企业通过一个系统的价格和市场。

它是汇集的知识和行动的数十亿美元的不同个人的通信设备。

没有中央情
报或计算，它解决了生产和分配涉及数十亿计的未知的变量和关系，问题远远超过甚至当今最快的超级计算机都是问题。

没有人设计了这个市场，但它的功能非常好。

在市场经济里，因此单一个体或组织负责生产，消费，分配和定价。

How do market determine prices，wages，and outputs？Originally，a market was an actual place where buyers and sellers could engage in face-to-face bargaining. The marketplace—filled with stabs of butter，pyramid of cheese，layers of wet fish，and heaps of vegetables—used to be a familiar sight in many villages and towns，where farmers brought their goods to sell .In the United States today there are still important markets where many traders gather together to do business.For example，wheat and corn are traded at the Chicago Board of Trade，oil and platinum and traded at the York Mercantile Exchange，and gems are trades at the Diamond District in New York city.
如何确定市场价格，工资和产出？本来，市场是买卖双方可以进行面对面的面对面谈判的实际到位。

市场上，充斥着黄油刺，奶酪金字塔，湿鱼层，以及堆蔬菜使用的是一个熟悉的景象在许多村庄和城镇，那里的农民带来了他们的货可卖。

在美国今天有仍然是重要的市场，许多交易商聚集在一起做生意。

例如，小麦和玉米的贸易，石油和铂金的芝加哥期货交易所进行交易，并在纽约商品交易所上市交易，和宝石行业的钻石区在纽约城市
More generally，a market should be thought of as a Mechanism by which buyers and sellers can determine prices and services.There are markets for almost everything form art to pollution.A market may be decentralized，as in the case of houses or labor.Or it may exist only electronically，as in the case of many financial assets and services，which are traded by computer.The crucial characteristic of a market is that it brings buyers and sellers together to set prices and quantities.
更一般地，市场应该被看作是一种机制，使买家和卖家能够确定的价格与业务。

市场几乎所有的艺术形式来污染.市场可能会分散，如房屋或劳动。

或它可能的情况下，它可能只存在电子，在许多金融资产和服务，这是由市场计算机交易的，一个市场重要特征成交的情况是，它带来的买家和卖家共同设定的价格和数量。

14-17段
A market is a mechanism by which buyers and sellers intertact to determine the price and quantity of a good and service.
In a market system, everything has a price, which is the value of the good in terms of money.prices represent the terms on which people and firms voluntarily exchange different commodities. When I agree to buy a used Ford from a dealer for $4050,this agreement indicates that the Ford is worth more than $4050 to me and that the $4050 is worth more then the Ford to the dealer. The used car market has determined the price of a used Ford and ,through voluntary trading,has allocated this good to the person for whom it has the highest value.
In addition, prices serve as signals to producers and consumers. If consumers want more of any good,the price will rise,sending a signai to
producers that more of supply is needed. For example every summer,as families set out on their vacations,the demand for gasoline rices ,ans so does the price. The higher price encourages oil companies to increase gasoline production and, at the same time,discourages travelers from lengthening their trips.
On the other hand,if a commodity such as cars becomes overstocked,dealers and automobile companies will lower their prices in order to reduce their inventory. At the lower price,more consumers will want cars,and producers mill want to make fewer cars. As a result, ablance,or equilibrium, between buyers and sellers will be resored.
市场是生产者和消费者的相互作用来决定商品和服务的价格和数量的机制。

在市场系统中，每个东西都有一个价格，这个价格就货币而言就是商品的价值。

价格代表现在人们和企业自愿交换的条款不同的商品。

当我同意花4050美元从一个经销商手中买一个二手福特时，这种同意表明了这辆福特对我来说价值超过4050美元然而对经销商来说它的价值低于4050美元。

在二手车市场，通过自愿交易，决定了这辆二手福特的价格，对已经分配这些好处的人来说,它有最高价值。

而且，价格作为生产者和消费者的指示。

如果消费者想要更多的商品，价格就会上升，向生产者传达着需要更多的供给这样的讯息。

举一个例子，每个夏天，很多家庭开始度假，对汽油的需求就会上升，价格当然也就会了。

更高的价格鼓励石油公司增加汽油生产量，同时，也阻止游客延长他们的旅行。

另一方面，如果一件类似汽车这样的商品库存过多，经销商和汽车公司将会降低价格来减少他们的存货。

当价格降低，更多的消费者就会需要汽车，生产者也就会想要生产更少的汽车。

结果就是生产者和消费者的平衡就会被恢复。

18-20段
What is true of the markets for consumer goods is also true of markets for factors of production,such as land or labor.If computer programmers rather than textile workers are needed,job opportunities will be more favorable in the computing field.The price of computer programmers (their hourly wage)will tend to rise, and that of textile workers will tend to fall, as they did during the 1980s.The shift in relative wages will attract workers into the growing occupation.
什么是真正的消费品市场生产要素市场也是如此,比如土地或劳动。

如果需要计算机程序员而不是纺织工人,工作机会在计算领域将更加有利。

计算机程序员(计时工资)的价格将趋于上升,和纺织工人会下降,因为他们在1980年代所做的那样。

相对工资的转变将吸引工人到越来越多的职业。

The nursing crisis of the 1980s shows the labor market at work.During that decade the growth in the health-care sector led to an enormous expansion of nursing jobs with far too few trained nurses to fill them.Hospitals offered all sorts of fringe benefits to attract nurses，including subsidized apartments,low-cost on-site child care，and signing bonuses as high as $10,000.one hospital even ran a lottery for nurses，with the prize being a gift certificate at a nearby department store .But
what really attracted people into the nursing profession was rising wages.Between 1983 and 1992，the pay for registered nurses rose almost 70 percent ，so they were making about as much money as the average accountant or architect .They rising pay drew so many people into nursing that by 1992 the nursing shortage had disappeared in most parts of the country.
1980年代的护理危机显示了十年的在运转的劳动力市场.十年间医疗部门的增长导致了一个巨大的扩张与很少有受过训练的护士的护理工作来填补。

医院提供各种各样的福利来吸引护士,包括补贴住房、低成本现场照顾孩子,和签约奖金高达10000美元。

一个医院护士甚至跑彩票,奖品是一个礼券在附近的百货商店,但真正吸引人们到护理专业是增长的工资。

在1983年和1992年间,注册护士的工资上涨近70%,所以他们尽可能多的钱平均会计或架构师他们吸引了很多人到护理工资上涨,到1992年,护理短缺已经消失了在这个国家的大部分地区。

Prices coordinate the decisions of producers and consumers in a market. Higher prices tend to reduce consumer purchases and encourage production. Lower prices encourage consumption and discourage production.Prices are the balance wheel of the market mechanism.
价格协调生产者和消费者在市场的决定。

更高的价格往往会减少消费,鼓励生产。

更低的价格鼓励消费,抑制生产。

价格是市场机制的平衡轮。

21-24段
（21)Market Equilibrium
At every moment,some people are buying while others are selling；firms are inventing new products while governments are passing laws to regulate old ones；foreign companies are opening plants in America while American firms are selling their products abroad.Yet in the midst of all this turmoil,markets are constantly solving the what,how,and for whom.As they balance all the forces operating on the economy,markets are finding a market equilibrium of supply and demand.
(22) A market equilibrium represents a balance among all the different buyers and sellers.Depending upon the price ,households and firms all want to buy or sell different quantities.The market finds the equilibrium price that simultaneously meets the desires of buyers and sellers.Too high a price would mean a glut of goods with too much output；too low a price would produce long lines in stores and a deficiency of goods.Those prices for which buyers desire to buy exactly the quantity that sellers desire to sell yield an equilibrium of supply and demand.
(23)How markets solve the three economic problems
We have just described how prices help balance consumption and production （or demand and supply）in an individual market.What happens when put all the different markets together-gasoline,cars,land,labor,capital,and everything else？These markets work simultaneously to determine a general equilibrium of prices and production.
(24) By matching sellers and buyers（supply and demand）in each market,a
market economy simultaneously solves and three problem of what,how,and for whom.Here is an outline of a market equilibrium.
市场均衡
每时每刻,有些人买,有些人则是销售;公司发明新产品,而政府通过法律规范旧产品;外国公司在美国开设工厂,而美国公司在国外出售他们的产品。

然而,在这一切动荡中,市场不断解决是什么,怎么样和为了谁的问题。

当他们权衡了所有对经济运行的力量，市场正在寻找一个市场供求平衡。

市场均衡代表一个所有不同的买家和卖家之间的平衡。

根据价格，家庭和公司都想购买或出售不同的数量。

市场发现同时满足买家和卖家需求的均衡价格。

过高的价格意味着大量的商品有太多输出 ;定价过低又会产生在商店的长队和商品的不足。

对于买家恰恰渴望买的数量即卖家渴望卖掉的收益的供需平衡的价格。

市场如何解决三大经济问题
我们刚刚描述了价格如何在一个独特的市场帮助平衡消费和生产(或需求与供给)。

当我们把所有不同的市场-汽车,土地、劳动力、资本、和一切放在一起会怎样？这些市场会同时工作来确定一个一般均衡的价格和生产。

通过匹配每个市场的卖家和买家(供需)，市场经济同时解决了是什么、怎么样、为了谁这三个问题。

这是市场均衡的一个轮廓。

25-27段
25. What goods and services will be produced is determined by the dollar votes of consumers--not every 2 or 4 years at the polls,but in their daily purchase decisions.The money that they pay into businesses' cash registers ultimately provides the payrolls,rents,and dividends that consumers,as employees,receive as income.
什么商品和服务的生产是由消费者的美元票——不是每2或4年在民意调查中,但是在日常购买决策。

他们付的钱到企业的收银机最终提供工资、租金、股息,消费者,作为员工,获得收入。

26. Firms, in turn, are motivated by the desire to maximize profits. Profits are net revenues, or the difference between total sales and total costs. Firms abandon areas where they are losing profits; by the same token, firms are lured by high profits into production of goods in high demand.
A familiar example is Hollywood. If one film makes huge profits—say, a firm about a cute dinosaur and an evil scientist—other studios will rush to produce imitations.
反过来,企业出于利润最大化的欲望。

利润是净收入,或者总销售额和总成本之间的差异。

公司放弃领域失去利润;同样,公司吸引了高利润高需求的货物投入生产。

一个熟悉的例子是好莱坞。

如果一部关于一个可爱的恐龙和一个邪恶的科学家的电影创造了巨大的收益，其他工作室将急于生产仿制品。

27. How things are produced is determined by the competition among different producers. The best way for producers to meet price competition and maximize profits is to keep costs at a minimum by adopting the most
efficient methods of production. Sometimes change is incremental and consists of little more than tinkering with the machinery or adjusting the input mix to gain a cost advantage, which can be very important in a competitive market. At other times there are drastic shifts in technology, as with steam engines displacing horses because steam was cheaper per unit of useful work, or airplanes replacing railroads as the most efficient mode for long-distance travel. Right now we are in the midst of just such a transition to a radically different technology, with computers replacing typewriters, paper, and many white-collar workers. 如何是由产生不同的生产商之间的竞争。

生产商的最佳方式以满足价格竞争和利润最大化是保持成本至少采用最有效的方法生产。

有时变化是渐进的,由多摆弄机械或调整输入混合以获得成本优势,从而在竞争激烈的市场中是非常重要的。

在其他时候有剧烈变化技术,与蒸汽机取代马因为蒸汽是便宜的单位有用的工作,或飞机取代铁路对于长途旅行最有效的模式。

现在我们正处在这样一个过渡到一个完全不同的技术,用计算机取代打字机,纸,许多白领。

28-30段
28.For whom things are produced—who is consuming,and how much—depends,in large part,on the supply and demand in the markets for factors of production.Factor markets(i.e.,markets for factors of production)determine wage rates ,land rents interest rates,andprofits.Such prices are called factor prices.The same person may receive wages from a job dividends from stocks ,interest from a certificate of deposit,and rent from a piece of property.By adding up all the revenues from factors,we can calculate the person’s market income.The distribution of income among the population is thus determined by the amounts of factors(person-hours,acres,etc.)owned and the prices of the factors(wage rates,land rents ,etc.).
事物的产生是谁消费，消费多少，在很大程度上取决于，对生产要素市场中的供给和需求。

市场因素（即，生产要素市场）确定的工资率，土地租金的利率，和利润。

这样的价格称为同因素的价格。

同一个人可以从工作中获得工资，可以获得一份股票的股息收入，可以从存款中获得利息，从一块地产中获得租金。

把所有的因素的收入加起来，我们可以计算出个人的市场收入。

人口之间的收入分配是这样的因素（人-小时，亩，等）确定的量，还有价格的因素（工资,租金,等）。

29.Be warned ,however ,that incomes reflect much more than the rewards for sweaty labor or abstemious saving.High incomes come also from large inheritances,good luck ,favorable location ,and skills highly prized in the marketplace.Those with low incomes are often pictured as lazy,but the truth is that low incomes are generally the result of poor education ,discrimination,or living where jobs are few and wages are low.When we see someone on the unemployment line ,we might say,”There ,but for the grace of supply and demand ,go I.”
然而，注意一下！收入反映出很多，不仅仅是出汗的劳动或节制节约奖励。

高收入还来自于大量遗产，好运气和技巧，良好的位置和在市场上非常高评价的技能。

那些低收入是经常被描绘为懒惰，但事实是，低收入普遍是落后的教育、歧视、
或者是生活在工作少、工资低的地方造成的结果。

当我们看到失业的人，我们可能会说，“有，但是除了供求的恩惠，走的就是我了。

”
30.Who rules a market economy?Do giant companies like General Electric and AT&T call the tune ?Or perhaps Congress and the President ?Or the advertising moguls from Madison Avenue ?If we examine the structure of a market economy carefully ,we see a dula monarchy shared by consumers and technology .Consumers direct by their innate and acquired tastes—as expressed by their dollar votes –the ultimate uses to which society’s resources are channeled .They pick the point on the production-possibility frontier(PPF).
谁控制市场经济？像通用电气和AT&T这样的大公司会发号施令吗？或许国会和总统会？或麦迪逊大道的广告巨头会？如果我们仔细检查市场经济的结构，我们看到一双被消费者和技术共享的君主制。

消费者直接通过他们的先天和后天的体验——他们通过对美元投票表达最终的用途，社会的资源是短缺的。

他们在生产可能性边界点（PPF）选择生产。

31-50
But consumers alone cannot dictate what goods will be produced .The available resources and technology place a fundamental constraint on their choices. The economy cannot go outside its PPF. You can fly to Hong Kong ,but there are no flights to Mars. An economys resources, along with the available science and technology, limit the candidates for the dollar votes of consumers. Consumer demand has to dovetail with business supply of goods. So business cost and supply decisions, along with consumer demand , help determine what is produced.
但是，消费者不能独自决定哪种商品能够被生产。

在他们的选择中，可利用的资源和技术是基础的约束因素。

经济不能超越它的生产可能性边界。

你能够乘飞机前往中国香港，但却没有通往火星的航班。

因此，经济资源限制了消费者花钱选择消费对象的范围。

消费者的需求必须同厂商所提供的商品和服务紧密匹配，厂商根据消费者需求解决生产什么的问题。

Not every technology, however, will find a use. From the Stanley Steamer-a car that ran on steam-to the Premiere smokeless cigarette, which was smokeless but also tasteless, history is full of products that found no markets. How do useless products die off? Is there a government agency that pronounces upon the value of new products? No such agency is necessary. Rather , it is profits which serve as the rewards and penalties for business and guide the market mechanism.
当你对为什么一些技术未能投入市场产生疑惑时，回想一下“双重君主”概念是很有用的。

从以蒸汽为动力的斯坦利蒸汽汽车，到无烟无味的普莱米尔香烟，历史上充斥过许多没有市场的产品。

无用的产品如何消亡？是否存在一个政府机构专门宣布新产品的价值？答案是：不存在这种不必要的机构。

实际上，它们的消亡是因为按那样的市场价格无法唤起消费者的需求。

其产品的成本大于效益。

这告诉我们，是利润在奖励或惩罚企业并引导市场机制。

Like a farmer using a carrot and a stick to coax a donkey forward, the market system deals out profits and losses to induce firms to produce
desired goods efficiently.
正如农夫用胡萝卜加大棒来驱使驴前行一样，市场体系用利润和亏损来引导企业有效率地生产出符合人们需要的产品。

We can picture the circular flow of economic life in Figure 2-1 on page 30.The diagram provides an overview of how consumers and producers interact to determine prices and quantities for both inputs and outputs. Note the two different kinds of markets in the circular flow. At the top are the product markets, or the flow of outputs like pizza and shoes; at the bottom are the markets for the inputs or factors of production like land and labor. Further, see how decisions are made by two different entities, households and business.
图2-1是我们绘制的经济活动的流程图。

关于消费者和生产者如何相互作用并决定投入和产出的价格与数量，借助该图可以一目了然。

请注意观察流程图中两种不同的市场。

图的上部是产品市场，如比萨饼和鞋等；图的下部是诸如土地和劳动等投入品，或曰生产要素市场。

进一步观察还可以发现消费者和企业这两个不同的经济主体如何在进行决策。

Households buy goods and sell factors of production; businesses sell goods and buy factors of production. Households use their income from sale of labor and other inputs to buy goods from businesses; businesses base their prices of goods on the cost of labor and propery.Prices in goods market are set to balance consumer demand with business supply; prices in factor markets are set to balance household supply with business demand.
消费者购买物品，出售生产要素；企业出售物品，购买生产要素。

消费者通过出售劳动和其他投入品而获得收入，进而去购买企业的物品；企业按投入的劳动和财产的成本确定物品的价格。

产品市场上价格的确定是为了平衡消费者的需求和企业的供给，要素市场上的价格确定是为了平衡消费者的供给和企业的需求。

All this sounds complicated.But it is simply the total picture of the intricate web of interdependent supplies and demand, interconnected through a market mechanism to solve the economic problems of what, how,and for whom. Look at Figure 2-1 carefally. A few minutes spent studying it will surely help you understand the workings of a market economy.
所有这一切听起来很复杂，但是，整个流程又很简单。

相互依存的供给和需求所形成的错综复杂的网络，借助市场机制编制在一起，以解决生产什么，如何生产和为谁生产的问题。

请仔细研究一下图2-1，花上几分钟时间，一定会有助于你理解市场经济的运行。

mechanism英 ['mek(ə)nɪz(ə)m]美 ['mɛkənɪzəm]
The orderliness of the market system wasfirst recognized by Adam Smith, whose classic work The Wealth of Nations(1776）is still read today. Smith proclaimed the principle of the “invisible hand."This principle holds that,in selfishly pursuing only his or her pesonal good, every individual is led,as if by an invisible hand, to achieve the best good for all.Smith held that in this best of all possible words, government interference with market competition is almost certain to be injurious.In one of the most famous passages in all of economics,Smith saw harmony between private。