印度与中国攀比经济增速“非常愚蠢” Sen warns that India’s growth must not come at price of food

The Indian fixation with surpassing China’s rate of economic growth is “very stupid” as a measure of the nation’s advancement, Amartya Sen, the world-renowned scholar and Nobel laureate for economics, has warned.

世界知名学者、诺贝尔经济学奖获得者阿玛蒂亚•森(Amartya Sen)警告称，印度执着于追求超过中国的经济增速、视其为衡量国家发展的标准，是一件“非常愚蠢”的事。

Prof Sen on Tuesday said that such comparisons between the two rising economies were dangerously misguided, and recommended that Indian leaders pay more attention to reducing chronic undernourishment among their country’s 1.2bn people than pursuing ever higher growth targets.

森周二表示，对这两个新兴经济体进行这样的比较，是一种危险的错误观念。他建议印度领导人更加注重减少12亿国民中长期营养不良的人数，而非追求越来越高的增长目标。

“I don’t think the issue of India and China and which one will have a higher rate of growth is interesting at all,” Prof Sen told students and young entrepreneurs in the Indian capital. “It’s not a serious question how [India’s] 8.5 per cent compares with [China’s] 9.5 per cent.”

“我对印度和中国竞赛的问题、以及哪个国家的经济增速会更高毫无兴趣，”森对新德里的学生和年轻的企业家们这样说道。“将（印度的）8.5%与（中国的）9.5%相比，并不是严肃的问题。”

Mr Sen was responding to an obsession with India’s climbing growth rate among New Delhi’s policy elite, a focus that often overlooks whether greater activity in parts of the country translates into improved human development indicators.

森的言论是针对印度政策精英对于印度不断提升的经济增速的一味专注，这种专注常常忽视了印度部分地区经济活力的提升能否转化为人类发展指标的改善。

Indians suffer some of the severest nutritional deficiencies in the world. Stunted development affects about half of the nation’s young children.

印度人的营养不良情况在世界上处于最严重之列。全国约一半儿童发育不良。

Manmohan Singh, the prime minister and close friend of Prof Sen’s, has forecast that India will reach 10 per cent economic growth in the medium term, placing it on par with China.

森的密友、印度总理曼莫汉•辛格(Manmohan Singh)预测，印度经济增速在中期内会达到10%，与中国不相上下。

Data released last month showed that India’s economy grew close to 9 per cent in the three months to the end of September. Business leaders and policymakers believe India could grow much faster but acknowledge that faster, unbalanced growth could pose dangers for the country.

上月发布的数据显示，今年第三季度印度经济增速接近9%。商界领袖和政策制定者认为，印度还能以快得多的速度增长，但他们承认，更快但不平衡的增长可能对该国构成威胁。

One Mumbai-based business leader describe India’s current growth as a “default rate” that could easily be exceeded if government intervention was lessened.

孟买一位商界领袖形容印度目前的增长为“缺省增长率”，一旦政府减少干预，便会轻松超标。

Prof Sen said higher growth was a “positive thing” in the context of social justice, poverty reduction and directing greater public revenues towards health and education.

森表示，在社会正义、脱贫、并将更多公共资金投入医疗和教育的大背景下，更高的经济增速就是一件“积极的事情”。

He proposed that greater attention be given to whether India was “falling behind” in feeding its population at a time of high food prices and what India could learn from China about social improvement. “Why is it that undernourishment is so hardy [in India]?” he asked.

他建议，印度应更加关注，在粮食价格高企的当下，自己在满足国民温饱方面是否“落后”，以及印度可以向中国借鉴哪些社会改良的经验。“为何（印度的）营养不良情况如此严重？”他问道。