各位朋友好!在上一讲中,我们讲了调控市场供求关系的一个重要因素,就是:price - 价格。
我们今天要谈的话题是 efficiency - 效率。
经济学家认为,单纯就市场机制本身来说,它应该能有效率地分配宝贵的资源。那么什么是效率呢?澳大利亚新南威尔士大学管理学教授弗莱德希尔莫归纳了这样几种基本的效率:
1 productive efficiency 生产效率,讲的是如何生产的问题,通常要以最低成本来获得最好的效率2 allocative efficiency 配置效率,生产何种产品,如何分配人力物力资源3 dynamic efficiency 动态效率,改革创新、适应消费者对产品和服务要求的改变
希尔莫教授对这几种效率作了这样的解释:
The simplest is what we call productive efficiency. I make bricks. When I make bricks, how can I make the brick with the lowest amount of energy, the lowest amount of materials and the lowest amount of labour? And that's productive efficiency. So I'm the most efficient brick producer if I can make the cheapest brick.
希尔莫教授说,最基本的效率是通常所说的 “生产效率”。比如我生产砖,要考虑在制砖时怎样只消耗最低限度的能源、最低限度的材料和最低限度的劳动力。这就是生产效率。如果我能够生产成本最低的砖,我就是最有效率的制砖工人。
The second form of efficiency is what's called allocative efficiency, which is where I allocate the resource to the activity which earns the highest return.
第二种形式的效率是我们所称的“配置效率”,就是说要把人力物力资源投入盈利最高的生产活动中。
The third kind of efficiency is dynamic efficiency and that would occur where the world is changing and I'm not the best producer of bricks. But I am actually very good at designing innovative bricks - bricks that lock together in ways that make it easier for builders, bricks with colours and textures that consumers like, that the builder who wants a bit of flair will strive for. And so I could be dynamically very efficient and actually get a higher price for my bricks.