Edmund Phelps Wins Nobel Prize for Economics 费尔普斯·爱德蒙赢得了经济学的诺贝尔奖
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This is the VOA Special English Economics Report. Edmund Phelps has been awarded this year’s Nobel Prize（诺贝尔奖） for Economics（经济学）. Mister Phelps is a professor（教授） of economics at Columbia University in New York City. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences honored Mister Phelps for his work in macroeconomics. That is the study of large forces that affect economies at the national or international level. Mister Phelps correctly identified the relationship between unemployment（失业, 失业人数） and inflation(通货膨胀, (物价)暴涨). Since the nineteen thirties, policymakers in many nations dealt with unemployment in the same way. They would let inflation increase to create jobs.
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For example, they would make credit (信任, 信用)easier to get. As a result, people would buy more goods. Businesses(商业, 买卖, 生意)would hire(雇请) workers to meet growing demand, forcing prices up. For many years, policymakers accepted that reducing(减轻,减少) unemployment required higher inflation. Mister Phelps found that inflation did temporarily increase employment. But he discovered that, over the long term, inflation hurt（伤害, 危害, 损害）job creation. His ideas were proved by economic conditions（条件,环境, 社会地位） in America in the nineteen seventies. That period was known for “stagflation”（不景气状况下之物价上涨）: having high unemployment and high inflation at the same time.
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Edmund Phelps also found that if employers(.雇主, 老板) expect low inflation in the future, they are more likely to hire workers. Today, economic policy(政策, 方针) experts believe the best way to create(引起, 造成) jobs is to fight inflation. Mister Phelps also studied national savings(国家储蓄) over long periods of time. Common sense suggests that a very high savings rate is best. But, Mister Phelps showed that national savings rates can be too high. He argued（争辩, 辩论） that saving too much limited demand in the present, which could slow growth.
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The best savings rate is not so high that it limits demand in the present. And it is not so low that it limits growth and investment in the future. Still(尽管如此), he argued that governments(政府, <英>内阁,) should take action(最能产生效果) to raise national savings. Edmund Phelps did much of his research in macroeconomics during the late nineteen sixties and early seventies. His work continues to influence economists. And it has helped change policy(政策, 方针) at central banks, which now consider fighting inflation a main goal. Mister Phelps will receive about one million four hundred thousand dollars. And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. Transcripts(抄本) and archives are at voaspecialenglish.com. I'm Bob Daughty.
