斯蒂格利茨進一步指出，這個問題中國同樣無法倖 免。這35年來中國不僅經濟發展，不平等現象同樣 增多。他表示，在發展中國家裡，儘管中國的不平等 現象並非最嚴重，然而若和巴西相比，巴西大力投資 改善醫療、教育、青少年營養等問題，從而有效減少 該國不平等現象。 斯蒂格利茨指出：「經濟因素具有全球性，各國所受 經濟因素的影響都是大同小異的，但不同國家之間的 結果卻相差很遠，這就說明，這不單是經濟的問題， 而是和政策有關，而政策本身是由政治決定的，所以 我們在討論不平等時不能忽略政治和政策在其中所扮 演的核心角色。」 不平等的機會之門 傾向富人的政策所帶來的後果除了貧富懸殊加大之 外，還有社會底層人民所遭受的不平等對待，尤其是 底層人士難以靠努力而流動到社會上層，斯蒂格利茨 稱是機會上的不平等。他指出，數據顯示美國年輕人 的收入和其父母的收入和所受教育成正比，所以美國 孩子能否成功的關鍵在於他們是否有成功的父母。 「我經常開玩笑說，選對父母很重要，如果沒有成功 的父母，基本上機會是很少的，還不如放棄好了。」 斯蒂格利茨舉例，部份美國學生因其父母收入關係， 需背負學習貸款；有時，畢業後的無薪實習也難以負 擔，有時需端碗盤打臨時工，種種因素進而影響了向 上流動的機會。 這種機會上的不平等，打破了人們普遍認為努力便可 有所成就的「美國夢」。斯蒂格利茨指出:「過去幾 年的研究顯示，機會的平等跟結果的平等，兩者關係 密切，也就是，機會越不平等的社會，收入和財富不 平等的現象就越嚴重。」 高等教育是否平等？ 在種種造成不平等機會的因素中，斯蒂格利茨提醒， 教育也在其中。他指出，教育對人的一生有極大影 響，而成功父母的孩子往往擁有較大機會獲得高等教 育，他認為，人們獲得高等教育的機會和難易程度不 同，而這正是造成不平等現象的主要原因之一。 And the problems are not unique to developed countries. According to Prof. Stiglitz, China is not immune to these trends.“What China has done in the last 35 years is not only to grow more than almost any other country, but it’s also been able to grow its inequality more,” Prof. Stiglitz said.“But China is not the emerging market with the highest level of inequality. There are other countries in the developing world that have worse inequality. But some of them, like Brazil, invested a lot in education, health care, food, and nutrition for young people, and in a relatively short time, Brazil has succeed in reducing the degree of inequality.” As tempting as it is to blame inequality on economic forces, economic forces are not the only culprit. “The economic forces that are at play are the same on both sides of the Atlantic, underlying economic forces basically are global in nature,” Prof. Stiglitz explained. “The outcomes, though, differ very markedly from country to country, and that tells us that it’s not just economics that’s driving what is going on in inequality; it’s really about policies, and policies themselves are determined by politics. So when we come to talk about and try to understand inequality, we can’t ignore the central role of policies and politics.” Inequality of Opportunity Another inequality, which perhaps merits more concern than inequality in income and wealth, is inequality of opportunity. It is very difficult, noted Prof. Stiglitz, for people at the bottom to make it to the top, and that is a good example of inequality of opportunity. Prof. Stiglitz said that statistics show that the income and education of a young American and the income and education of his parents are closely linked. In other words, whether a child in the United States can succeed depends to a large extent on whether he or she has successful parents. “So sometimes I say jokingly, there is one critical decision that each young child should make, and that is choosing the right parents,” said Prof. Stiglitz. “If you make that decision wrong, you might as well give up.” Prof. Stiglitz observed that some students in the United States, whose parents are not very well-off, pay for college expenses with student loans, and even after graduation these students sometimes cannot afford to work unpaid internships, and end up working as waiters. These all affect the young people’s opportunity to move upward, and have caused many to become disillusioned with the “American Dream”. “Research over the last few years shows that equality of outcomes and equality of opportunities seem to be very highly correlated,” said Prof. Stiglitz. “Societies with a very high level of inequality of outcomes in income and wealth have very high inequalities of opportunity.” Inequality in Higher Education There are many factors that contribute to inequality of opportunity, and one of them is inequality in education. Prof. Stiglitz believes that education has a profound effect on people’s lives, and children with better-off parents tend to have a better opportunity to go to college. “One UMAGAZINE ISSUE 10 24 人物專訪．INTERVIEW
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTQ1NDU2Ng==