經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)笑話：交易

39. Trade

An experienced economist and a rookie economist are walking down the road. They come across【1】 a spoiled banana lying on the asphalt. Says the experienced economist, "If you eat it I'll give you $20,000!"

The rookie economist runs his optimization model and figures out he's better off 【2】 eating it so he does and collects money.

Continuing along the same road they almost step on 【3】 a spoiled apple. The rookie economist states, "Now, if YOU eat this apple I'll give YOU $20,000." After evaluating the proposal, the experienced economist eats the spoiled apple, and gets the money.

As they go on, the rookie economist starts thinking and states, "Listen, we both have the same amount of money we had before, but we both ate spoiled fruit. I don't see us being better off."

The experienced economist states, "Well, that's true, but you overlook the fact that we've just been involved in 【4】 $40,000 of trade."

交易

一位資深經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家和一位菜鳥經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家正在沿路行走。他們看到一根爛香蕉躺在瀝青馬路上。資深經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家說道：“如果你能吃掉它的話，我將給你兩萬美元。”

菜鳥經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家開始運(yùn)行他那最優(yōu)化模型，計(jì)算結(jié)果表明，吃了爛香蕉將會(huì)讓自己的境況變得更好，于是他吃了那根爛香蕉并得到了兩萬美元。

他們接著往前走的時(shí)候差點(diǎn)踩到了一只爛蘋果。菜鳥經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家說道：“如果你吃掉這只蘋果，我就給你兩萬美元。”經(jīng)過一番衡量之后，資深經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家吃掉了爛蘋果并得到了兩萬美元。

他們接著往前走，菜鳥經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家開始思索并說道：“聽著，我們兩個(gè)現(xiàn)在擁有的金錢數(shù)量和之前的完全一樣，可是我們兩人都吃了個(gè)爛水果。我看不出我們的境況有所改善了。”

資深經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家說道：“哦，沒錯(cuò)，不過你忽視了一個(gè)事實(shí)：我們剛剛完成了一項(xiàng)四萬美元的交易。”

背景知識(shí)與點(diǎn)評(píng)

·經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)認(rèn)為貿(mào)易或交易讓雙方的境遇都得以改善（或者說效用都得以提高），這是因?yàn)殡p方各以具有絕對(duì)優(yōu)勢(shì)或比較優(yōu)勢(shì)的產(chǎn)品與對(duì)方進(jìn)行交換，雙方都從交易中得到好處，因此彼此的福利都會(huì)提高。

·但是，本笑話中的故事就不符合貿(mào)易或交易的條件。表面上看雙方是進(jìn)行了交易，但是交易的內(nèi)容卻不是各自的具有絕對(duì)或相對(duì)優(yōu)勢(shì)的產(chǎn)品。當(dāng)勤于思考的菜鳥經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家產(chǎn)生質(zhì)疑的時(shí)候，資深經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家就只好自圓其說了。

·更惡心的笑話版本則是把爛水果改為狗屎，笑話的結(jié)論是雖然二人的交易結(jié)果并沒有增加實(shí)際財(cái)富，但是總的GDP卻增加了。

英語知識(shí)鏈接

【1】 come across：偶然發(fā)現(xiàn)，偶然遇見

【2】 be better off：境況變得更好

【3】 step on：踩到…上面

【4】 be involved in：涉及