50 Which of the following is NOT true of deflation?
(A)Deflation could be both good and bad.
(B)Deflation could cause real debts to swell.
(C)The surge in borrowing by firms and households causes deflation.
(D)Both the good and bad sorts of deflation can be seen today.

50 以下哪項不是通貨緊縮的真實情況？ （A）通貨緊縮可能既好又壞。 （B）通貨緊縮可能導致實際債務膨脹。 （C）企業和家庭借款的激增導致通貨緊縮。 （D）今天可以看到好的和壞的通貨緊縮。

【全句翻譯】

以下哪項對通貨緊縮的敘述不正確？
企業和家庭借款激增導致通貨緊縮。

(A)通貨緊縮可能既好又壞。

(B)通貨緊縮可能導致真正的債務膨脹。

(C)企業和家庭借款激增導致通貨緊縮。

(D)現在可能會看到好的與壞的通貨緊縮

對經濟學專有名詞不熟的人來說，這個閱讀測驗真的很難。

光是不認識通貨膨脹/緊縮這兩個單字，作答就會容易思考錯誤。

       For decades inflation was the bogeyman in rich countries. But now some economists reckon that deflation, or falling prices, may be a more serious threat—in America and Europe as well as Japan. That would be decidedly awkward, given the surge in borrowing by firms and households in recent years. Particularly worrying is the rise in borrowing by American households to finance purchases of houses, cars or luxury goods. Deflation would swell the real burden of these debts, forcing consumers to cut their spending.

幾十年來，通貨膨脹一直是富裕國家的大忌。但現在一些經濟學家認為，在美國和歐洲以及日本，通貨緊縮或價格下跌可能是一個更嚴重的威脅。考慮到近年來公司和家庭的借貸激增，這絕對是尷尬的。尤其令人擔憂的是，美國家庭為購買房屋、汽車或奢侈品而藉貸的資金增加。通貨緊縮會加重這些債務的實際負擔，迫使消費者削減開支。

       Deflation is not necessarily bad. If falling prices are caused by faster productivity growth, as happened in the late 19th century, then it can go hand in hand with robust growth. On the other hand, if deflation reflects a slump in demand and excess capacity, it can be dangerous, as it was in the 1930s, triggering a downward spiral of demand and prices.

通貨緊縮不一定是壞事。如果像 19 世紀後期那樣，價格下跌是由生產率增長加快引起的，那麼它可以與強勁增長齊頭並進。另一方面，如果通貨緊縮反映了需求下降和產能過剩，則可能是危險的，就像 1930 年代那樣，引發需求和價格的螺旋式下降。

        Today, both the good and bad sorts of deflation are at work. Some prices are falling because of productivity gains, thanks to information technology. But the weakness of profits suggests that most deflation is now bad, not good. Deflation is particularly harmful when an economy is awash with debt. Total private-sector debt is now much higher than when deflation was last experienced in the 1930s. Falling prices not only increase the real burden of debt, they also make it impossible for a central bank to deliver negative real interest rates, because nominal rates cannot go below zero.

今天，通貨緊縮的好壞都在起作用。由於信息技術，生產力提高，一些價格正在下降。但利潤疲軟表明，大多數通貨緊縮現在是壞的，而不是好的。當一個經濟體充斥著債務時，通貨緊縮尤其有害。現在的私營部門債務總額遠高於 1930 年代上次出現通貨緊縮時的水平。價格下跌不僅增加了實際債務負擔，還使中央銀行不可能提供負實際利率，因為名義利率不能低於零。

  If deflation causes real debts to swell, debtors may have to cut spending and sell assets to meet their payments. This can unleash a vicious spiral of falling incomes, asset prices and rising real debt. Irving Fisher, an American economist, described this process in a famous article in 1993 entitled “The Debt-Deflation Theory of Great Depressions”. He described how attempts by individuals to reduce their debt burden by cutting costs could paradoxically cause their debt burden to swell. Unable to increase prices to boost profits, firms have to cut costs, either by reducing labour costs and hence household income or by buying less from other firms. This is sensible for an individual firm, but it reduces demand in the economy, thwarting the desired improvement in profit, leading to another round of cuts and putting further downward pressure on prices.

如果通貨緊縮導致實際債務膨脹，債務人可能不得不削減開支並出售資產來償還債務。這可能會引發收入下降、資產價格和實際債務上升的惡性循環。美國經濟學家歐文·費舍爾在 1993 年的著名文章《大蕭條的債務-通貨緊縮理論》中描述了這一過程。他描述了個人通過削減成本來減輕債務負擔的嘗試如何自相矛盾地導致他們的債務負擔膨脹。由於無法通過提高價格來增加利潤，企業不得不削減成本，要么通過降低勞動力成本和家庭收入，要么減少從其他公司購買。這對單個公司來說是明智的，但它減少了經濟中的需求，阻礙了利潤的預期改善，導致另一輪削減並對價格施加進一步的下行壓力。

來自google 翻譯