消费的功过

Is Consumption Right?

经济衰退期,提倡节俭和刺激消费并不相悖。节俭能够积累更多的资本以用来推动生产,而生产本身就能创造出等量的需求。

John Maynard Keynes once said: 'we are all socialists now.' But the fact is that, as former US President Richard Nixon stated in 1971, 'We are all Keynesians now.' Threatened by a worsening f inancial crisis and economic downturn, governments and economists worldwide can only resort to demand stimulus. Keynes meant that insuff icient demand is mainly caused by rising joblessness, so the way to spur demand is to expand the government’s demand, or public spending. But in China, some people are calling for common people to spend their savings to spur domestic demand. This idea would astonish Keynes if he was alive to hear it. Saving and thrift is a tradition of Chinese people. In classic economics, every rational person will take uncertainty about the future into account when spending. And they or others, such as banks and their f irm debtors, could invest their savings rather than using it for consumption. This may be a more eff icient way to boost demand during economic woes.