As the world continues to recover from the Great Recession, governments and businesses are focused on how to spur economic growt

admin2011-04-04  33

问题     As the world continues to recover from the Great Recession, governments and businesses are focused on how to spur economic growth. But if they really want to create jobs, raise incomes, and lift living standards, they should devote more energy to figuring out how to generate economic dynamism over the long term.
    At times like this, governments tend to champion particular sectors like manufacturing, or industries like green technology. But true dynamism flows from continuous innovation, experimentation, adaptation, and change, all of which raise productivity over time. Those productivity gains, in turn, lift incomes and drive consumption. This fuels more innovation—and a dynamic economy thus expands in a healthy, sustainable way.
    Unfortunately, economic dynamism can also cause dislocation and disturbance as workers lose jobs in failing companies or in fading industries. Change in the ranking of companies has accelerated in many countries, including the United States, over the last century. The 90 names listed on Standard & Poor’s index of major U. S. companies in the 1920s remained there for an average of 65 years. By 1998 a company listed on the S & P 500 could expect to stay there for an average of only 10 years.
    The distress caused by such turnover causes many people to resist change. But this process, famously labeled "creative destruction" by economist Joseph Schumpeter, frees resources for new uses that can vastly improve life over time. We may have fewer farmers, coachmen, and switchboard operators today than in Schumpeter’s time, but We have software engineers, EKG technicians, Google mapmakers, and a host of other occupations people couldn’t have imagined back then. The "productivity paradox" is that while we may need fewer workers in certain occupations in the short term, improved productivity leads to a stronger economy as a whole. So policies to spur economic dynamism are essential elements of any strategy to create jobs.
    How exactly do we foster economic dynamism? Dynamism doesn’t turn on whether an economy has a large financial sector, or big manufacturers, or a semiconductor industry, but instead on whether the sectors are competitive or not. Instead of picking winners and pouring out subsidies to them, countries must get the basics right. These include a solid rule of law, with patents and protections for intellectual property, enforceable contracts, and courts to resolve disputes; access to finance, particularly for startups; and an efficient physical and communications infrastructure. Once the basics are in place, the key is ensuring strong competition within sectors.
    It can be tempting, in the short term, to prop up old industries and preserve outdated jobs. But as Schumpeter said, "With capitalism, we are dealing with an evolutionary process. " Nations that want to move up the list should be prepared to evolve.  
What should governments and businesses put emphasis on in order to spur economic growth?

选项 A、How to raise productivity of some particular sectors.
B、How to innovate, experiment, adapt and make change.
C、How to make gains to lift incomes and drive consumption.
D、How to raise productivity greatly over the long term.

答案B

解析 根据题干关键词spur economic growth定位到原文第一、二段。第一段第二句提到:But if they really want to...they should devote more energy to figuring out how to generate economic dynamism over the long term. 可知刺激经济增长的关键在于怎样产生长期的经济活力;第二段第二句又提到:But true dynamism flows from continuous innovation, experimentation, adaptation, and change...可知真正的活力来自于不断的革新、实验、适应以及变化,即为了刺激经济增长,政府部门和商业机构应着重关注怎样革新、实验、适应以及变化,故选B 项。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/Xro7777K
0

最新回复(0)