“A crisis is a strange way to celebrate an anniversary.” This is the wry judgment of Erik Bergl?f, chief economist of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.* Yet a crisis is what we see in countries that began the march from communism two decades ago. So, has capitalism failed, as communism did? In a word, “no”. Some transition countries are in crisis; transition is not. The same judgment applies elsewhere: capitalist countries are in crisis; capitalism itself is not. But reform is necessary. The great virtue of liberal democracies and market economies is their ability to reform and adapt. They have shown these qualities before. They must do so once again.
“危機(jī)是一種慶祝周年紀(jì)念日的奇特方式。”歐洲復(fù)興開發(fā)銀行(EBRD)首席經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家艾瑞克?博格洛夫(Erik Berglof)如此語帶嘲諷地評(píng)價(jià)*。不過，我們從那些20年前脫離共產(chǎn)主義的國家中看到的就是危機(jī)。這是否說明，資本主義已經(jīng)步共產(chǎn)主義后塵，也失敗了呢？簡單地說：“沒有”。一些轉(zhuǎn)型期國家陷于危機(jī)，但轉(zhuǎn)型本身并沒有。同樣的論斷也適用于別處：資本主義國家身陷危機(jī)，但資本主義本身并沒有。但改革是必要的。自由民主體制和市場經(jīng)濟(jì)的特長就是有能力改革和適應(yīng)。它們以前曾展露過這些才能，現(xiàn)在，它們必須再一次這樣做。