? What Money can’t buy---the moral limits of markets ? ? ? ?by Michael J. Sandel
(published by Farrar, staraus and Giroux/ New York)
P28-32 Market Reasoning & Markets Versus Queues
一直一直很想寫出來這種壓抑的感受,今天看了桑德爾這本書終于,相對理清楚了思路。
歡迎討論。
前面章節(jié)的一堆鋪墊之后,在這里,桑德爾終于開始呼應(yīng)“市場的天生道德缺陷”(the moral limits of markets,本書副標(biāo)題)。他展現(xiàn)了一場精彩的辯論,框架分明,邏輯清晰(這個(gè)磨人的老妖精)。
欲揚(yáng)先抑,桑德爾先假設(shè)“代排隊(duì)買票”和販賣黃牛票的市場是應(yīng)當(dāng)存在的,還一本正經(jīng)地給了三條理由(真會玩):
從自由論者的角度來說,為什么不能立法禁止“排隊(duì)買票”和販賣黃牛票的行為,和為什么不能明令禁止賣淫、人體器官買賣是一個(gè)道理;
從社會效益最大化的角度來說,既然買賣自愿發(fā)生,就說明買賣使賣方和買方都處于比交易發(fā)生前更好的狀態(tài);
而且愿意出價(jià)乃至出最高價(jià)的人說明他想要票的意愿最高,所以票最后歸他而不是其他人能夠使得有限的票所滿足的社會總需求最高。
經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)老師正經(jīng)臉會說,達(dá)到了社會帕累托最優(yōu):)
我們以為桑德爾會說我要用強(qiáng)大的邏輯征服世界了額。
然后他說,我之前說的都是垃圾。
問題關(guān)鍵是,支付一樣商品的意愿(無論是具象的商品還是作者探討的代排隊(duì)買票這種服務(wù))不僅是由消費(fèi)者對商品的珍視程度決定,而且,或者更多的是,消費(fèi)者的支付能力。
就像那些坐在棒球比賽現(xiàn)場貴賓區(qū)的觀眾往往是最遲到場,最早退場的觀眾,他們愿意支付最高的票價(jià),并不是因?yàn)樗麄儗Π羟虮荣愑凶罡叩臒崆?,二是因?yàn)樗麄儞碛凶詈駥?shí)的口袋。故而,對商品的支付意愿絕非衡量對商品珍視程度的完美指標(biāo)。
現(xiàn)在就漸漸進(jìn)入正題啦。
—有錢能做很多很多事,但what money cannot do造成的影響是本書的重點(diǎn)。
? ?我現(xiàn)在想到的是微觀角度,對一個(gè)個(gè)獨(dú)立的個(gè)體來說,過度物質(zhì)化帶來了一些看似可以忽視,也一直被習(xí)慣性忽視,但對人的影響是一輩子的東西。
? 什么東西呢。
? 我很久很久之前就逐漸感受到的,Materialism造成的現(xiàn)代人的精神危機(jī)。
? 像我父母這一代75年左右出生的中年人,和很多我同齡人的父母,一直給我們灌輸?shù)睦砟罹褪牵耗切耙暯疱X如糞土的人”能這么說,是因?yàn)樗麄冊缇瓦^上了衣食無憂的生活。在越來越多非市場領(lǐng)域也開始被金錢占領(lǐng)的金元年代,這當(dāng)然是很成熟的觀念,很精辟的教誨。
? 我敬佩他們,單憑自己的奮斗為自己和家人營造了穩(wěn)定而舒適的生活。我很多同學(xué)的父母也是如此,一邊忙碌地將工作、人脈、和家庭的各種瑣屑屑處理得井井有條,一邊和朋友吃飯,拿生活中的自己承受過的各種壓力自嘲微笑著露出眼角的笑紋。他們都有著或深或淺的眼袋,不同程度的睡眠障礙,因?yàn)樗麄兊纳窠?jīng)是超支的。這就是這一代人共同的特征—承受了不該承受精神壓力。
這也是問題所在,他們對物質(zhì)的強(qiáng)調(diào)這么多年下來已經(jīng)定型,無法再靈活變通,原來的精神世界并非最要緊的事,一旦閑下來便造成了精神世界的空虛和失控。
? 曾獲得普利策獎(jiǎng)的美國記者Anna Quindlen在1998年出版的一篇報(bào)道Homeless里是這樣描述的,在物質(zhì)化的浪潮下,越來越多的人無家可歸,但是寧可坐在公交站臺慘白的燈光下,睡在公園的長凳上也不愿意去庇護(hù)所,因?yàn)楸幼o(hù)所更加不能提供給他們歸屬感;有房子的人也不斷遷徙,記憶變得中斷糾纏,代際鴻溝越來越大,家失去了安定和寧靜,心靈棲息地也漸漸喪失。
同時(shí),物質(zhì)化的浪潮還造成了現(xiàn)代社會的遷徙—人向物質(zhì)富集的地區(qū)流動,理所當(dāng)然,大勢所趨。但從裝修搬家?guī)淼纳韷毫?,再到糾纏一生反反復(fù)復(fù)的心理負(fù)擔(dān)。下一代人或許,更甚。因?yàn)樗麄儼捕ǖ臅r(shí)光更少,他們甚至連那種記憶都沒有。連遷徙民族的后代美利堅(jiān)都感到不安,毋論將鄉(xiāng)土觀念作為精神世界的安定劑這樣持續(xù)了三千年的中國人。
至于該怎么辦,我不知道。
我是個(gè)不怕獨(dú)處的人,有很多愛好,一個(gè)人也不會空虛,但是對和家鄉(xiāng)的疏離也沒有辦法。
這是寫的一點(diǎn)英文版本。沒有寫全。
? Sandel has spent so much to foreshadow, before glimpsing the moral limits of markets, the subtile, finally kicks off here. He displayed a marvellous debate with shockingly clear framework and logic (OMG Such an old elf).
? To creat an ironic effect, Sandel presumed that the case of markets over line standing and ticket scalping is totally justificable and he makes the joke so far as to draw on two reasons.(There he is again!:)?
One is about respecting individual freedom; the other is about maximizing welfare, or social unity.
?The first is alibertarian argument. It maintains that people should be free to buy and sell whatever they please, as long as they don’t violate anyone’s rights. Libertarians oppose laws against ticket scalping for the same reason they oppose laws against prostitution, or the sale of human organs: they believe such laws violate individual liberty, by interfering with the choices made by consenting adults.
?(consenting adults!I learned the word by heart:a person who is considered to be old enough to make their own decisions about who they have sex with.:)
The secondargument for markets over queues, is utilitarian. It says that market exchanges benefit buyers and sellers alike, thereby improving ourcollective well-being, or social unity. The fact that my line standers and I strike a deal proves that we are both better off as a result.
(The economy teacher would say: have reachedPareto efficiency)
And we think Sandel would say I have conquered the world with my powerful logic and he actually said, I was talking rubbish just now.
The reason is that the willingness to pay for a good does not show who value it most highly. This is because market prices reflect the ability as well as the willingness to pay so that they are imperfectindicators ofwho most values a particular good.?
e.g. The people sitting in the expensive seats at the ballpark often show up late and leave early. Ithasmore to do with the depth of their pockets rather that their passion for the game.
This proves that with money you are supreme in almost all walks of lives, but the book deals with what money cannot do, when the growing reach of money into spheres of life once governed by nonmarket norms.