索罗斯在大学的演讲

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1、Transcript:CapitalismVersusOpenSocietyThefollowingisatranscriptofalecturegivenbyGeorgeSorosatCentralEuropeanUniversityonOctober29,2009.TodayIwanttoexploretheconflictbetweencapitalismandopensociety,marketvaluesandsocialvalues.Iamgoingtoapproachthesubjecti

2、ndirectly,byfirstintroducingaphenomenonthathasattractedmyattentiononlyrecently,buthasassumedsuchimportanceinmythinkingthatIcouldalmostcallitthefourthpillarofmyconceptualframework.Thatphenomenonistheprincipal-agentproblem.Agentsaresupposedtorepresentthein

3、terestsoftheirprincipals,butinfact,theytendtoputtheirowninterestsaheadoftheinterestsofthosewhomtheyaresupposedtorepresent.Thatistheagencyproblem.Ithasbeenextensivelyanalyzedbyeconomists,buttheylookatitexclusivelyintermsofcontractsandincentivesandtheylarg

4、elydisregardquestionsofethicsandvalues.Yetifyouleaveoutethicalconsiderationstheproblembecomesprettywellintractable.Valueslikehonestyandintegritylosetheirgriponpeople'sbehaviorandpeoplebecomeincreasinglymotivatedbyeconomicincentives. Byclaimingtobevaluefr

5、ee,marketfundamentalismhasactuallyunderminedmoralvalues.Marketsaresupposedtobeguidedbyaninvisiblehand;thatiswhatmakesthemsoefficient.Participantsneedtoexercisenomoraljudgmentsinreachingtheirbuyandselldecisionsbecausetheiractionsarenotsupposedtohaveanyvis

6、ibleinfluenceonmarketprices. Intruth,therulesgoverningfinancialmarketsaredecidedbythevisiblehandofpoliticiansandinarepresentativedemocracypoliticiansrunintoanagencyproblem.Thus,theagencyproblemposesgravedifficultiesbothforrepresentativedemocracyandthemar

7、keteconomywhichcannotberesolvedwithoutanappealtomoralprinciples.Thatishowtheagencyproblemhasgainedsuchprominenceinmythinking.First,Iwillanalyzetheagencyproblemandthen,Iwilldealwiththeconflictbetweencapitalismandopensociety.Letmestartatthebeginning.Ifirst

8、encounteredtheagencyprobleminconnectionwiththeso-calledresourcecurse.ByresourcecurseImeanthatcountriesthatarerichinnaturalresourcesareoftencursedwithcorruptorrepressivegovernments,insurrections,andcivilwarssothatthepeoplea