Smoke, mirrors and helicopter money
直升机撒钱的表象与本质
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The term “helicopter money” is derived from a vivid image created by the US economist Milton Friedman in which a central banker showers notes on a grateful populace. More recently, the notion has been promoted by Adair Turner, the former chairman of the UK financial regulator, in his book, Between Debt and the Devil. It has also won some favour from bond king Bill Gross and even real central bankers such as Ben Bernanke, formerly chairman of the US Federal Reserve, and Mario Draghi, president of the European Central Bank.
“直升机撒钱”这种说法来源于美国经济学家米尔顿•弗里德曼(Milton Friedman)构想的一个生动场景：某个央行行长将纸币雪花般地洒向感激的民众。近来，这个概念又被英国金融监管当局的前任主席阿代尔•特纳(Adair Turner)在他的著作《债务与魔鬼之间》(Between Debt and the Devil)中推崇。它还得到了其他一些重量级人物的认同，包括债券之王比尔•格罗斯(Bill Gross)，甚至真实世界的央行行长，如美联储(Fed)前主席本•伯南克(Ben Bernanke)和欧洲央行(ECB)行长马里奥•德拉吉(Mario Draghi)。
No one really envisages that money would be dropped from a helicopter. What they have in mind is that in a recession government would increase expenditure in a manner that would directly stimulate private sector spending. The ideal format in which to undertake the borrowing required is bank notes, which pay no interest and need never be repaid. That is why the idea of dropping currency from a helicopter has appeal.
没有人真的设想钞票会从直升机上洒下来。他们真正的想法是，在经济衰退时期，政府应以一种能直接刺激私人部门支出的方式扩大开支。而对政府所需资金进行融资的理想模式是发行纸币，纸币不用支付利息，也永远无需偿付。这是“直升机撒钱”的设想为什么具有吸引力的原因所在。
But, of course, even if the lucky recipients of the helicopter drop went straight down to the pub to celebrate their good fortune, the publican would return the cash to the banking system by the end of the day, and the notes would end up back in the vaults of the central bank. The helicopter drop does not give households reason to hold additional notes in their wallets, shops to keep more cash in their tills, or banks to hold more currency in their branches.
但当然，即便那些捡到直升机上撒下钞票的幸运者直接走进酒吧庆祝他们的好运，酒吧老板也会在一天营业结束时将现金存回银行系统，最终这些钞票将回流至央行的金库。家家户户不会因为直升机撒钱而在钱包里多装几张钞票，店铺不会因此在它们的收银机里保留更多的现金，银行也不会因此在它们的分行留存更多的纸币。
Proponents of helicopter money seem to think government borrowing undertaken in this way does not really count — whether because it is irredeemable, and not really anyone’s liability; or because it is channelled through the central bank. The so-called Maastricht figure for EU government indebtedness, collated by the European Commission, does not consolidate the balance sheets of the zone’s central banks.
支持直升机撒钱的人似乎认为，以这种方式进行的政府举债并不真的做数——要么因为纸币是不可兑现的，不会真的增加任何人的债务；要么因为这些钱是通过央行输送的。马斯特里赫特条约规定的欧盟成员国政府赤字上限——由欧盟委员会(European Commission)整理——在计算中并不合并各成员国央行的资产负债表。
By contrast, the official figure for overall UK government debt does include the assets and liabilities of the Bank of England (as well as the asset purchase scheme, which holds the £375bn of UK government debt that the BoE has purchased in the name of “quantitative easing”).
与之形成对比的是，英国政府债务总额的官方数字确实包括英国央行(Bank of England)的资产和负债（同样纳入统计的还有资产购买计划的数据，该计划持有英国央行以“量化宽松”名义购买的3750亿英镑英国政府债券）。
If you are not already bewildered, you will be if you want an explanation of how the various negative and positive balances that central banks in the eurozone have with the ECB fit into this picture — or if you want an explanation of how losses the ECB will eventually incur on the doubtful collateral it has taken on to its books will finally be accounted for.
假如你到现在还没有被搞糊涂，试图了解欧元区成员国央行在欧洲央行的各种正负账户余额与此有何关系，或者如果你想了解欧洲央行因把可疑抵押品纳入资产负债表而最终会遭受的亏损将如何入账，一定会让你头晕脑胀。广州航空翻译公司、航空英语翻译。
The mystery of all this arises from the belief that central banks can never be insolvent because they can always print money and that bank notes are not exchangeable for anything but another bank note. But in fact you can redeem them by using them to pay your taxes; and if the central bank prints enough of them they lose their value.
所有这些谜团来源于有关央行永远不会资不抵债的信念，因为它们总是可以开动印钞机，而纸币除了可以交换另一张纸币以外，与其他任何东西都不可交换。但事实上你可以通过用纸币缴税的方式兑现纸币；而且如果央行印刷的纸币过多，纸币将失去价值。
When the smoke and mirrors are set aside, the reality is again clear: helicopter money is deficit financing funded by short-term borrowing.
当假象被拨到一旁，真相再次变得清晰：直升机撒钱本质上是依靠短期借款融资的赤字财政。
Personally, I do not think this policy a bad idea, although George Osborne, the UK chancellor of the exchequer, and Germany’s chancellor Angela Merkel take a different view. But this emphasises that an object of the scheme’s proponents is to persuade politicians and the public to endorse a plan they would not approve if it were presented in a simpler fashion. Unconventional monetary policy is in; Keynesian fiscal expansion is out. Even if they are the same thing.
就我个人而言，我不认为这项政策是个馊主意，尽管英国财政大臣乔治•奥斯本(George Osborne)和德国总理安格拉•默克尔(Angela Merkel)持不同看法。但这凸显了直升机撒钱计划支持者的一大目标：说服政治人士和民众支持一项如果以更简单的方式呈现他们不会赞同的计划。非常规货币政策是时髦观念，凯恩斯主义的财政扩张已经过气，尽管这两者本质上是一回事。
A better idea still would be deficit financing funded by long-term borrowing. When real interest rates on 50-year maturities for sovereign bonds are roughly zero, there is little reason to worry about the fresh debt this imposes on our children. I am sure they would rather have houses to live in and be able to cross bridges that will outlive their parents.
一个更好的办法是依靠长期借款融资的赤字财政。鉴于目前50年期主权债券的实际利率接近于零，没什么理由担心这种做法会对下一代造成新的债务负担。我相信，他们更愿意拥有可以居住的房子，有远比他们父母的寿命长久的大桥可供跨越。
