宏浩翻譯有限公司

◎蔡子岳

Leftists have long made a sport of blasting neoliberalism, the market-guided economic doctrine championed by the International Monetary Fund, as boosting poverty and inequality. Now that view is coming from inside the IMF itself.

長久以來，左派抨擊新自由主義─「國際貨幣基金」推動的市場導向經濟信條─加劇貧窮與不均。現在，IMF內部也有這類觀點。

Their views offer support to legions of critics in countries like Greece and Portugal that have endured tough IMF － designed "austerity" programs to straighten out their finances.

對刻下忍受嚴格IMF設計的「撙節」計畫以求度過財政危機的希臘、葡萄牙等國而言，他們的觀點為其高漲的批評聲浪提供支援。

"The benefits of some policies that are an important part of the neoliberal agenda appear to have been somewhat overplayed. Instead of delivering growth, some neoliberal policies have increased inequality, in turn jeopardizing durable expansion. " they said in an article in the June edition of the Fund’s Finance & Development magazine.

他們在IMF「金融與發展」雜誌6月號刊出的一篇文章中指出，「新自由主義議程下某些重要政策的效益似乎被誇大。某些新自由主義政策加劇貧富不均，進而危及永續發展，而非促進成長。」

Austerity policies, which often aim to curb the size of the state, not only "generate substantial welfare costs" but also "hurt demand － and thus worsen employment and unemployment. The costs of the tax increases or expenditure cuts required to bring down the debt may be much larger than the reduced crisis risk engendered by the lower debt. In practice, episodes of fiscal consolidation have been followed, on average, by drops rather than by expansions in output. "

通常旨在限縮國家作為的撙節政策，不僅「產生實質上的福利成本」，同時也「傷害需求面，從而惡化就業狀況與失業率。相較於減輕債務所降低的危機風險，減輕債務所需的增稅或削減開支，代價恐怕更大上許多。實務上，財政重整的嗣後效果，一般來說是下滑多於擴張。 」

新聞辭典

straight out：動詞片語，理清、解決問題。例句：I was left to straighten out the mess.（只留下我收拾善後。）

curb：動詞，防制、抑制。例句：Measuring global food waste can help curb hunger.（調查世界糧食浪費有助抑止飢餓。）

fiscal：形容詞，財政的、會計的。例句：EPS for the current fiscal quarter for Taiwan Semiconductor stands at $0.40.（第一季台積電每股盈餘維持在0.4美元。）