金融世界第 20 讲: 世界贸易组织

在这一讲中我们要谈谈过去五十年中对稳定世界经济作出贡献的两个重要国际组织 Iternational Monetary Fund 国际货币基金组织和 World Trade Organisation 世界贸易组织及其前身 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade，简称 GATT，也就是关税及贸易总协定的由来和发展。

澳广金融节目主持人巴里克拉克首先介绍了这两个国际组织诞生的历史背景：

These institutions came into existence because policy makers in the United States and the United Kingdom, the dominant players in the post-World War II planning game, wanted to avoid a repeat of the mistakes made during the inter-war years. 这些机构的成立是由于美国和英国这两个在第二次世界大战后制定计划时占支配地位国家的领导人希望避免重复在两次大战之间那段时期犯的错误。

From an economic perspective, the period between the two world wars might best be described as an era of instability and collapse. The 1930s saw a drastic contraction of world trade, lower income and high unemployment. 从经济角度来看，第一次和第二次世界大战之间的那段时期可以说是动荡与崩溃的时期。在一九三十年代，世界贸易严重收缩，收入降低，失业增加。

澳大利亚莫纳什大学的里查德斯纳普教授对当时的历史背景作了进一步的解释。他在谈话中使用了这样一些词组：

1 international monetary system 国际货币秩序
2 currency turmoil 货币动荡
3 erecting trade barriers 设立贸易壁垒
4 bilateralism 双边主义
5 preference 优先，特惠
6 contagious 可蔓延（传染）的

斯纳普教授说：

There were two or three main things: one of course was the collapse of the international monetary system with countries restricting payments abroad and access to foreign currencies - and so there was a great deal of currency turmoil. And then, with the onset of recession and depression in the world, you had countries erecting trade barriers, trying in fact to export unemployment, trying to stimulate demand for their own products by keeping imports out. 主要有两或三个方面：其中之一当然是各国限制向海外付款和限制兑换外汇，使国际货币秩序崩溃，造成极大的货币动荡。然后随着世界经济衰退和萧条的开始，一些国家设立贸易壁垒，试图转嫁失业，并停止进口以刺激对本国产品的需求。

And this was contagious, so that in the early 1930s, you had a very, very substantial decrease in international trade and, of course, with that, an increase in inefficiency, as countries were trying to do more and more themselves. 各国互相仿效，结果在一九三十年代初国际贸大幅度缩减，同时无效率生产增加，因为各国都尝试自己来作更多的事。

You also had a great growth in bilateralism, that instead of trading on a multilateral basis - that is trading with anyone and buying from the cheapest source - you had a whole series of trade agreements where preferences were being given to particular countries. 同时“双边主义”也大行其道，各国签订许多贸易协议，为某些特定国家提供贸易优惠，以此代替了在多边基础上进行的贸易，也就是同所有国家往来、购买最廉价产品的贸易。

And so you had three aspects going on really: You had first of all a currency turmoil; you had, secondly, very substantially increasing trade barriers and associated with that and with the Depression greatly decreasing trade; thirdly you had a great deal of channelling of trade with preferred countries. 因此一共有三个方面的因素：一是货币动荡；二是贸易壁垒大量增加，再加上大萧条，贸易大幅度缩减；第三是大量通过优惠国渠道进行贸易。

一九四四年七月，美国总统罗斯福邀请四十四个国家的代表团到美国新罕布什尔州的布雷顿森林举行联合国货币及金融会议。也就是在这次会议上成立了两个新的国际组织： International Monetary Fund 国际货币基金组织和 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development 国际复兴开发银行，俗称 World Bank 世界银行。

国际货币基金组织有这样三个主要的目标：

One, the restoration of a multilateral system of payments, based on world wide convertibility of currencies; two, stability of exchange rates; and three, national independence in monetary and fiscal policies. 国基组织的三个主要目标是：在全球范围货币可兑换的基础上重建多边付款秩序；稳定汇率；各国自主确定货币和财政政策。

澳广金融节目主持人巴里克拉克接下来谈了世界贸易组织前身“关税及贸易总协定”的诞生：

At the time of Bretton Woods, the intention was to create an international trade organisation paralleling the IMF. However, because currency stability and financial reconstruction were considered of greater urgency this did not eventuate. 在举行布雷顿森林会议时，各国本打算建立一个与国际货币基金组织并存的国际贸易组织。但这并没有成为现实，因为稳定货币和重建金融体系被认为是当务之急。

Indeed, it was not until three years later, in 1947, that the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade - better known by its acronym, the GATT - became the focus for trade negotiations. 实际上，直到三年后的一九四七年，以它的英文缩写“GATT”更为知名的“关税及贸易总协定”才成为贸易谈判的焦点。

As a loose-knit organisation, an agreement between contracting parties, the GATT differed organisationally from the IMF. It worked through what were termed, 'negotiating rounds' at which member countries agreed to tariff reductions. 作为一个松散的组织和一项各签约国达成的协议，它在组织结构上与国基组织不同。它是通过“谈判回合”来工作的。各成员国在谈判中就降低关税达成协议。