韦氏观察

BLAMING CHINA WILL NOT SOLVE AMERICA’S PROBLEM

美国对“中国问题”的纠缠如今达到了高潮。从谷歌(Google)到人民币，美国正把各种自己头疼的问题归咎于中国。遗憾的是，这既反映出美国在政治上寻找替罪羊，又反映出其拙劣的经济政策——这两者结合起来可能造成极大的危害。

政治方面的压力来源于美国工人的不安。在经历了十多年来的实际工资增长停滞和近期失业率的急剧上升之后，美国劳动力正面临空前的压力。可以理解，选民们需要解决方案。他们被告知，一切都是因为贸易逆差——它是生产严重流失到外国竞争对手那里的明确证明。在把本国2008-09年度整整39%的贸易逆差归咎于中国及所谓的受到操纵的人民币汇率后，华盛顿方面坚称，只有对北京采取强硬态度，美国工人才会受益。

America’s fixation on the “China problem” is now boiling over. From Google to the renminbi, China is being blamed for all that ails the US. Unfortunately, this reflects a potentially lethal combination of political scapegoating and bad economics.

The political pressures are grounded in the angst of American workers. After more than a decade of stagnant real compensation and, more recently, a sharp upsurge in unemployment, US labour is being squeezed as never before. Understandably, voters want answers. It is all because of the trade deficit, they are told – a visible manifestation of a major loss of production to foreign competition. With China and its so-called manipulated currency having accounted for fully 39 per cent of the US trade deficit in 2008-09, Washington maintains that American workers can only benefit if it gets tough with Beijing.

不管这一论调看上去多么吸引人，它都是以拙劣的经济政策为基础的。2008-09年，美国对90多个国家存在贸易逆差。这意味着，它的贸易逆差是多边的。不过，在美国某些最声名显赫的经济学家的支持与教唆下，华盛顿方面正在鼓吹一项双边解决方案——要么人民币大幅升值，要么大面积地对进口自中国的产品加征关税。

用双边方案来解决多边问题，就像重新摆放泰坦尼克号甲板上的躺椅一样无济于事。除非导致多边贸易逆差的问题得到解决，否则，双边性质的干预只会让其它某个国家来接手中国在美国国际失衡中占据的份额。这个“某个国家”很可能生产成本比中国更高，从而在事实上压缩了手头吃紧的美国消费者的购买力。

如果美国正视出现巨额多边贸易逆差的原因，它将收获多得多的好处。美国经济的核心问题是储蓄，而不是中国。2009年，衡量美国国内储蓄的最广泛的指标——国民净储蓄率（国民储蓄净额相对国民收入的比率）降到了-2.5%的历史新低。这意味着，美国必须从海外引入过剩的储蓄来为其未来的增长提供资金，必须累积经常账户赤字与贸易逆差来吸引外国资本。其结果是，对一个储蓄不足的经济体而言，大规模多边贸易失衡是逃脱不了的命运。

是的，中国在美国多边贸易逆差中占据最大的一块。但这是因为高成本的美国企业纷纷转向中国，把中国当作一个低成本、高效益的海外解决方案。它还反映了美国消费者对廉价且越来越优质的中国造商品的偏爱。换句话说，储蓄不足的美国事实上相当幸运，因为它拥有中国这样一个重要的贸易伙伴。

However appealing this argument may seem, it is premised on bad economics. In 2008-09, the US had trade deficits with over 90 countries. That means it has a multilateral trade deficit. Yet aided and abetted by some of America’s most renowned economists, Washington now advocates a bilateral fix – either a sharp revaluation of the renminbi or broad-based tariffs on Chinese imports.

A bilateral remedy for a multilateral problem is like rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Unless the problems that have given rise to the multilateral trade deficit are addressed, bilateral intervention would simply shift the Chinese portion of America’s international imbalance to someone else. That “someone” would most likely be a higher-cost producer – in effect, squeezing the purchasing power of hard-pressed US consumers.

The US would be far better served if it faced up to why it is confronted with a massive multilateral trade deficit. America’s core economic problem is saving, not China. In 2009, the broadest measure of domestic US saving – the net national saving rate – fell to a record low of -2.5 per cent of national income. That means America must import surplus saving from abroad to fund its future growth – and run current account and trade deficits to attract the foreign capital. Thus, for a savings-short economy, there is no escaping large multilateral trade imbalances.

当然，中国也不可能是毫无问题的。就像与美国一样，它也与世界其余国家也存在大规模的失衡——即巨额经常账户盈余。作为负责任的全球公民，美国必须解决其储蓄不足问题；与此同时，世界各国有充分理由期待中国担负起责任、减少它过剩的储蓄。

但这些调整必须在多边框架下进行，因为失衡是多边的。正如中国只是美国90多个贸易逆差国之一一样，中美贸易如今仅占中国对外贸易总额的12%。围绕中美两国间的双边方案来解决它们的多边失衡，是错误的做法。

但美国某些最知名的经济学家仍在声称，人民币兑美元升值不仅会在美国创造100多万个就业岗位，而且还将为全球复苏注入新的活力，否则复苏会很无力。经济学家不应该这么糊涂。相对价格的变动本是零和游戏——它们只是重新切分了蛋糕，并没有改变它的大小。

任何两个国家之间汇率（或相对价格）的调整，都非治愈全球经济结构性失衡的万能药。相反，我们需要的是全球储蓄格局的调整。特别是，美国需要减少逆差、提高个人储蓄，中国则需要刺激国内个人消费。

华盛顿方面找中国作替罪羊，可能会把世界推向灾难性下滑的边缘。基于拙劣的经济政策而在政治上逃避现实，这种情况或许不是第一次出现。但是，这一愚蠢错误的后果——贸易摩擦与保护主义——将令2008-09年的危机相形见绌。

Yes, China is the biggest piece of America’s multilateral trade deficit. But that is because high-cost US companies are turning to China as a low-cost offshore efficiency solution. It also reflects the preferences of US consumers for low-cost and increasingly high-quality goods made in China. In other words, savings-short America is actually quite fortunate to have China as a large trading partner.

No, China is hardly perfect. Like the US, it, too, has a large imbalance with the rest of the world – namely, an outsize current account surplus. Just as responsible global citizenship requires America to address its savings deficiency, the world has every reason to expect the same from China in reducing its surplus saving.

But these adjustments must be framed in the multilateral context in which the imbalances exist. Just as China is one of over 90 countries with which America runs trade deficits, US-China trade now represents only 12 per cent of total Chinese trade. It is wrong to fixate on a bilateral solution between these two nations to address their multilateral imbalances.

Yet some of America’s most prominent economists are claiming that a revaluation of the renminbi vis-à-vis the dollar would not only create more than 1m jobs in the US but that it would inject new vigour into an otherwise anaemic global recovery. Economists should know better. Changes in relative prices are the ultimate zero-sum game – they re-slice the pie rather than expand or shrink it.

Currency, or relative price, adjustments between any two nations are not a panacea for structural imbalances in the global economy. What is needed, instead, is a shift in the mix of global saving. Specifically, America needs deficit reduction and an increase in personal saving, while China needs to stimulate internal private consumption.

Washington’s scapegoating of China could take the world to the brink of a very slippery slope. It would not be the first time that political denial was premised on bad economics. But the consequences of such a blunder – trade frictions and protectionism – would make the crisis of 2008-09 look like child’s play.

作者:摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)亚洲主席，著有《未来的亚洲》(The Next Asia)