美国两学者分享2009年诺贝尔经济学奖

Two economists who specialise in understanding behaviour and transactions which are not covered by detailed contracts or law shared the 2009 Nobel prize for economics yesterday.

两名经济学家昨日分享了2009年诺贝尔经济学奖，他们的研究对象是，不在详细的合约或法律约束范围内的行为及交易。

Elinor Ostrom, a professor from Indiana University, was honoured for her work on the management of common resources such as fish stocks.

美国印第安纳大学教授埃莉诺·奥斯特罗姆(Elinor Ostrom)因其在公共资源（如鱼类资源）管理方面的研究而获奖。

Professor Oliver Williamson of the University of California also became a Nobel laureate, sharing the SKr10m ($1.4m, €1m, £909,000) prize, for his complementary, but separate, work on co-operation and conflict within companies.

美国加利福尼亚大学教授奥利弗·威廉姆森(Oliver Williamson)也成为诺贝尔经济学奖得主，分享1000万瑞典克朗（140万美元）的奖金，他的研究对象是公司内部的合作与冲突，这对奥斯特罗姆的研究形成补充，但自成一体。

The economics prize has been awarded every year since 1969 in memory of Alfred Nobel and is not one of the traditional five prizes. This year is the first time this “new Nobel” has been awarded to a woman.

自1969年以来，诺贝尔经济学奖以纪念阿尔弗雷德·诺贝尔(Alfred Nobel)的名义每年颁发，但不是五个传统奖项之一。今年是首次有女性获得这个“新诺贝尔奖”。

Professor Ostrom said her first reaction was “great surprise and appreciation”.

奥斯特罗姆教授表示，她的第一反应是“极大的惊讶与感激”。

She added: “There are many, many people who have struggled mightily and to be chosen for this prize is a great honour and I'm still a little bit in shock.”

她补充道：“有许多、许多人付出了艰巨的努力，被选中获得这一奖项是一种巨大的荣誉，我仍有点处于震惊之中。”

In a year when many people might think economists did not deserve recognition at all, the Nobel has gone to a branch of economics unrelated to the financial crisis and is unlikely to stir the same controversy as last year's award to Paul Krugman of Princeton University, a macroeconomist who has commented on the world economic crisis from a Keynesian perspective.

当今，很多人可能认为经济学家根本不值得表彰，在此之际，今年的诺贝尔经济学奖颁发给一个与金融危机无关的经济学分支，从而不太可能像去年那样引发争议。去年的诺贝尔经济学奖得主是美国普林斯顿大学的保罗·克鲁格曼(Paul Krugman)，他是一位宏观经济学家，曾用凯恩斯主义的观点评述此次世界经济危机。

The two economists won their prize for the study of how to enforce rules where detailed contracts or legal frameworks do not exist. Their work has helped to foster understanding on why natural resources are not always degraded, contrary to more simple theories, and why large companies exist, but also outsource some operations.

今年上述两位经济学家获奖，是因为他们研究了这样一个问题：在不存在详细合约或法律框架的情况下，如何强制执行规则？他们的研究成果有助于推动人们对一些问题的理解，比如：与更简单的理论相反，为什么自然资源并不总是会退化？为什么大公司存在，但同时也会外包某些业务？

Prof Ostrom has challenged the conventional “tragedy of the commons” theory, arguing that societies and groups regularly devise rules and enforcement mechanisms which stop the degradation of nature. The traditional theory holds that pollution and depletion of resources would occur because individuals did not recognise their effect on others. However, she argued that people could manage resources tolerably well without rules imposed by the authorities if rules evolved over time, entitlements were clear, conflict resolution measures were available, and an individual's duty to maintain the common resource was in proportion to the benefits from exploiting it.

奥斯特罗姆教授对传统的“公地悲剧”理论发起挑战，她主张，社会和团体经常制定规则和执行机制，遏制自然界的退化。传统理论认为，之所以会出现污染和资源枯竭，是因为个人意识不到自己的行为对他人的影响。但她提出，只要满足一些条件，即使没有官方强制推行的规则，人们也能过得去地管好资源，这些条件包括：规则随着时间的推移而演变，权利明确，存在可用的冲突解决机制，以及个人保持公共资源的职责与其开发利用资源的获益成比例。

Active participation in setting and enforcing rules was the key feature of such success stories, she found. Prof Williamson also studied economic governance, but within companies. Since much of economic life happens within organisations, he examined how decisions were made, rather than just the decision that was taken. That helped him develop a theory of why companies exist – they can be efficient at resolving conflict, via the use of hierarchy.

她在研究中发现，人们积极参与制定并执行规则，是这些成功故事的关键特点。威廉姆森教授也研究了经济治理，但范围限于公司内部。由于有相当大一部分经济活动发生在企业内部，他仔细研究了决定是如何做出的（而非仅仅是所作出的决定本身）。这帮助他开发出一套理论，解释公司为什么会存在。按照他的理论，凭借等级制度，公司能够有效地解决冲突。

He also found that where transactions were complex, companies were more efficient than individual contracts would be.

他还发现，在交易比较复杂的情况下，公司也比私人合同更有效率。

The theory helps to explain the shifting boundaries of companies; why they often abuse their power; and why large companies evolve in certain industries.

该理论有助于解释公司界限的变迁；为什么它们经常滥用权力，以及为什么某些行业容易出现大公司。