First, the world economy has come full circle, with a massive financial crisis emanating from the US, then and still the world's dominant financial power. The Great Depression of the 1930s was accompanied – and aggravated – by failures of economic co-operation, disintegration of the global economy and resurgent nationalism. But it also led to a revolution in economic thinking. “Never again” was the aim of the negotiators in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. Mired in the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, we have good cause to say the same.
首先，世界經濟兜了一圈之后又回到原地，過去就是、如今依然是世界主要金融強國的美國引發了一場巨大的金融危機。上世紀30年代的“大蕭條”(Great Depression)伴隨著經濟合作的失敗、全球經濟的瓦解和民族主義的復興，并由此加劇了蕭條。但是那場大蕭條也促成了經濟思想的革命。“再也沒有下一次”，是美國新罕布什爾州布雷頓森林與會代表的目標。身陷自上世紀30年代以來最嚴重的金融危機，我們有充分的理由表達出同樣的心聲。