Shifting the focus to debt changes the terms of the debate. As Frederic Mishkin of Columbia University has written, policymakers must distinguish between bubbles inflated purely by exuberance and those pumped up by debt. The latter are also easier to identify: credit issuance is abnormally fast and underwriting standards slip. In such circumstances, regardless of the level of asset prices, the case for intervention is strong.

　　关注点转移到债务上面，这让整个辩论发生了变化。正如哥伦比亚大学的Frederic Mishkin所写的，政策制定者必须辨别由市场热情而催生的泡沫和由债务导致的泡沫。后者更容易辨别：信贷发行异常便捷，贷款审批的标准下降。这种情况下，无论资产价格的程度如何，都应当进行干预。

　　That still leaves the question of what central banks should do after a stockmarket bubble has burst. Those that come to the rescue of collapsing markets are stoking moral hazard. Investors, believing that the central bank will always provide a backstop, are more likely to take unwarranted risks, as American ones did in response to the Greenspan put. Nevertheless, given that stockmarket bubbles accompanied by lots of debt, as in China, can cause severe economic damage, letting them burst without any succour is not a good option either.

　　央行在股市泡沫破碎后应当如何行动的问题仍然悬而未解。营救崩溃中的市场的央行让道德风险更进一步激化。相信央行会提供后盾的投资者则更容易接受不合理的风险，就像美国人对格林斯潘对策做出的反应一样。尽管如此，因为股市泡沫伴随大量债款，例如中国的股市，可以让经济严重受挫，所以不实施任何救助让泡沫自行破裂也并不是一个好的选择。

　　Over to the finance minister

　　交给财长

　　One option is to boost the broader economy through a spurt in government spending. Direct intervention to prevent the stockmarket from falling is more problematic, since it gums up price signals, preventing overvalued shares from returning to more reasonable levels. Halting stocks from trading, as seen recently with nearly half of listed Chinese companies, does not eliminate the problem but simply masks it. It was as if America had enacted a moratorium on selling homes after the subprime crisis.

　　有一个更大范围内振兴经济的方法，即政府消费的骤增。直接干预股市的崩盘更加问题重重，因为这会扰乱价格信号，被高估的股票无法返回到正常的水平上。不让股票交易，正如股市上将近一半的中国公司最近所经历的那样，仅仅是掩藏事实，而并没有解决问题，假同美国在次贷危机之后出台停止售房的法令一样。

　　Intriguingly, China’s interventions did put one strand of academic theory into practice. Roger Farmer of UCLA has argued that central banks should buy stocks to keep falling markets at reasonable price-to-earnings (PE) ratios. The Chinese central bank did this by providing cash to a stock-buying fund. Crucially, Mr Farmer says that central banks should then sell their holdings when PE ratios climb too high. That sounds like wishful thinking. In China as in other countries, the central bank often seems more intent on laying a floor for stocks than erecting a ceiling.

　　有趣的是，中国的干预确实将一派学术理论运用到实践中。加州大学洛杉矶分校的Roger Farmer曾说央行应当购买股票以保证下滑的市场处于合理的市盈率上。中国央行将资金注入到一个股票购买基金中，也做到了这一点。Farmer先生强调，至关重要的一步是央行会在PE比率攀爬过高的时候出售手中的股票。这听起来过于一厢情愿。因为如同其他国家一样，中国的央行更倾向于为股票设置下限而非上限。

　　【精美词汇解析、运用】

　　inflate/pump: 记得我们在上一篇学得fuel吗?这两个词在这种语境下可以作为fuel的替换词，因为三个词都有催生的意思。

　　exuberance: 热情、生机勃勃，这是一个非常正面的词，youthful exuberance 年轻有生机。在形容市场的热情的时候，这个词和frenzy, mania有类似的意思，但程度没有那么强烈。

　　underwriting standard: 指贷款条件。

　　stoke: 是真正的“火上浇油”的意思： add coal or other solid fuel to a fire; encourage or incite. 肯德基的肉料供应又被发现了新问题，这让民众的怒火更胜。The meat supply for KFC was found problematic once again, which stoked the public’s anger.

　　moral hazard: 道德风险。企业的经营不应当走在道德风险的边缘上 Corporations should not place their operations on the verge of moral hazard.

　　spurt: 井喷。

　　halt: 停止，比stop 更加形象，更有“骤然停止”的意思。curb是一个类似的词，本意是路边的石头或者马路牙子，于是有了控制的意思(有了马路牙子汽车、马车就不能上去横冲直撞)，curb spending，Chinese government will curb its support for the stockmarket.

　　subprime crisis: 次贷危机，是2008年金融危机的起因。

　　wishful thinking: 这个词很有意思，是指想得很美好，所以潜台词就是想得太美、一厢情愿、事实往往没有这么美好。除了文中的用法，还可以用来自嘲：I told myself I would make a great new year resolution, I hope it is not wishful thinking. 我告诉自己我要新年新气象，但我希望这不只是口头上说说好听。

　　laying a floor, erect a ceiling：这是英语中对上限下限一个很形象的说法。比如一个销售人员说“我的工资是靠佣金的，我能销售多少就能赚多少，工资没有上限”就是There is no ceiling on my earnings.

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