2016考研英语时文泛读：社会公平

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今天的泛读文章是关于经济的和社会的公平economic and social justice，是考研英语阅读经常涉及的话题。确切来讲这是一个书评《不平等：怎么办？》Inequality: What Can Be Done?，不平等研究的教父安东尼·阿特金森笔下的这个日趋严重的问题Anthony Atkinson, the godfather of inequality research, on a growing problem。来看一下具体内容：

CONTEMPORARY books on inequality are divided into those published “BC”, or before “Capital in the Twenty-First Century” by Thomas Piketty, or “AP”, for after Piketty. His study of rising wealth and income inequality caused a storm when it was published in Englishand became an international bestseller. The book did an excellent job of focusing people's minds on the subject. It also set the lines of empirical battle and even offered a possible remedy: a global tax on wealth. If Mr Piketty whetted the public's appetite for discussions of inequality, he also made it far more difficult for subsequent authors to say something new and original about it.

以皮克迪《资本在21世纪》为结点，现代关于不平等的书籍，可以分为出版在其之前的和出版在其之后的两类。他关于财富和收入日渐不平等的著作英文版，于2014年问世，之后便掀起了一场风暴，并成为了一本国际畅销书。在把人们的思想聚焦于这个问题方面，这本书做了一个相当不错的工作。同时，它还为不平等的实证争论划定了界线，甚至还提出了一个可能的解决方案：一项全球性的财富税。如果说皮克迪激起了公众对于不平等讨论的胃口，他还使得后来的作者非常难以就这个讨论提出新颖独到的观点。

Sir Anthony is more radical than Mr Piketty. He believes government should meddle in markets in all sorts of ways to influence the distribution of economic rewards. Sir Anthony's recommendations are a throwback to the 1960s and 1970s, when trade unions were a dominant force in politics and the state was seen as a much-needed check on markets. Even the most egalitarian economists, such as Mr Piketty, are reluctant to recommend employment guarantees and wage controls. Sir Anthony is not. And if his arguments are not always wholly convincing, he may nonetheless succeed in shifting the debate.

在是否需要政府干预的议题上，Sir Anthony比皮克迪更加激进。他认为政府应该采用多种途径去介入市场，从而对报酬的分配施加影响力。他建议回到60-70年代那种工会是政治的主导力量、国家被视为一个非常必要的市场制衡力量的时代。即便是像皮克迪这样的最具平等思想的经济学家，也在推荐就业保障和工资控制方面显得犹豫不决。安东尼爵士不是这样。如果说他的论据并不总是完全令人信服，但是他在转换争论方面可能是成功的。

这本书开篇便对日渐扩大的收入差距带来的不良影响给出了确定的态度，认为那不公平的对待了那些命不好的人，也消弱了经济增长和社会凝聚力。最重要是，经济资源分配的不公平直接转化为个人发展机遇的不平等。泛读是对背景知识的必要补充，在复习真题的同时，也要注意泛读的积累。预祝大家复习顺利，旗开得胜。