VOA慢速英语：美国经济学家理查德·塞勒荣获2017年诺贝尔经济学奖

American Wins Nobel Prize in Economics
美国经济学家获得2017年诺贝尔经济学奖

American economist Richard Thaler has won the 2017 Nobel Prize for Economics.

美国经济学家理查德·塞勒荣获2017年诺贝尔经济学奖。

Thaler was recognized for his work as a behavioral economist. That means he studies the reasons behind the economic decisions people make.

塞勒是行为经济学的代表人物，主要研究人们经济决策背后的原因。

Thaler received the prize partly for his research into why people often make irrational financial decisions. The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the $1.1 million prize on Monday.

塞勒获得此奖项的部分原因是其研究为什么人们总会做出非理性的金融决策。瑞士皇家科学院于周一宣布授予塞勒110万美元的奖金。

Speaking of the prize money, Thaler told reporters in Chicago after the announcement, “I will spend it as irrationally as possible.”

在谈及奖金时，在芝加哥接受采访时塞勒告诉记者：“我会尽可能非理性的花费这笔钱。”

Things people do to make financial decisions

人们在做经济决策时会做的事情

The award committee said Thaler explored “the consequences of limited rationality, social preferences, and lack of self-control.” It said the American economist’s work has shown how human qualities affect people’s individual decisions and the movements of financial markets.

瑞典皇家科学院解释说：“通过探索有限理性、社会偏好以及自制力缺乏所导致的结果，他揭示了这些人类特征如何系统性地影响个人决定和市场结果。”

Thaler developed the theory of “mental accounting.” It describes how people create separate accounts in their minds to try to simplify financial decision-making.

塞勒对心理账户理论的发展做出了突出的贡献。心理账户理论解释了人们如何在头脑中创建多个独立的账户以简化经济决策。

He described how this can lead to less rational financial decisions like saving for a vacation while paying high credit card interest.

塞勒解释道，这会如何导致缺乏理性的经济决策，例如在为旅游省钱的同时也在支付着高额的信用卡利息。

His research, Bloomberg noted, showed that people often choose short-term pleasures, “which is why many people fail to plan and save for old age.”

彭博社这样写道，“塞勒的研究显示人们经常会贪图短期的快乐，“而这也是为什么许多人不能计划或者成功为老年储蓄的原因。”

The Reuters said Thaler’s research showed that such traits “as lack of self-control and fear of losing what you already have” can cause people to make bad short-term decisions.

路透社写到塞勒的研究表明“缺乏自控、害怕失去已经所拥有的”等特征会导致人们做一些糟糕的短期决策。

One of those, Thaler noted, was keeping stock shares that have lost value or selling them too soon when they have gained value.

塞勒解释道，其中的一点就是囤积已经不具有投资价值的股票或者过早抛售增值的股票。

Thaler helped develop the “nudge” theory. It is the idea that small incentives can influence people to make good decisions. He said people should be permitted to make their own choices, but society “should actively try to guide individuals in the right direction.”

塞勒对推动了“助推”理论的发展。该理论即小的动机会影响人们做出有益的决策。塞勒表示，应该让人们自己抉择，但是社会也应该“积极地往正确的方向指导人们。”

Cass Sunstein and Thaler wrote about the idea in the 2008 book “Nudge.”

塞勒和桑斯坦于2008年合著了著作《助推》。

The theory has been used by political candidates as they work to influence voters and government officials seeking to make changes in society.

政治候选人曾利用该理论影响选民和政府官员，进而试图改变社会。

Other areas also interested Thaler. He studied fairness. He found that people can accept increasing prices if the costs of many things are going up. But he found that they strongly disapprove of companies that raise prices simply because of high demand for one product.

塞勒还涉猎其他领域。他曾研究公平。塞勒发现，倘若商品的成本上涨，人们也会接受物价提高。但是对于公司因某物品需求量高而提高物价的行为，人们会强烈反对。

Bloomberg called Thaler’s Nobel Prize “a reward for 40 years of work spent studying human bias and temptation.”

对于塞勒获得诺贝尔经济学奖，彭博社这样评价道“耗时40年研究人类偏好和诱惑所获得的奖励。”

Thaler is considered one of the first behavioral economists. His field, once criticized, has grown in popularity among economists over the last 10 years.

塞勒被认为是行为经济学的先驱者。他的研究领域曾受到人们的批评，但是在过去10年，行为经济学越来受经济学家的欢迎。

The economist even briefly appeared in the 2010 movie, “The Big Short,” about the global financial crisis.

这位经济学家在2010年的电影《大空头》中曾简短亮相。《大空头》这部电影主要讲述了全球金融危机。

Thaler is a professor of behavioral science and economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

塞勒是芝加哥大学布斯商学院的行为科学和经济学的教授。

The economics prize was created in 1968 in memory of Alfred Nobel after his death. Since then, 79 individuals have received the prize. The first woman winner was Elinor Ostrom in 2009.

诺贝尔经济学奖于1968年为纪念阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔而创建。之后，有79人获得了此奖项。2009年，奥斯特罗姆成为历史上第一个获得诺贝尔经济学奖的女性。

American have received about half of the Nobel Prizes for economics.

对于获得此奖项的人员，其中美国人约占半数。

I’m Mario Ritter.

马里奥·里特为您报道。