打「鐵」趁熱：佘契爾逆風而起 市場原則終成正統

策劃、編譯■李威撰英國前首相佘契爾8日病逝，憎惡她的人，舉辦派對慶祝「巫婆」的死去；緬懷她的人，則紛紛感嘆「英雄」的辭世。這名爭議性十足的人物，究竟如何影響了當代的政治與經濟？自佘契爾成為英國首相算起，距今已過了30多年，她在經濟上留給後人的，無論遭人唾罵或受人敬仰，都影響了整個世界。無論是歐元區財政首長要求負債累累的國家出售國營公司、美國政治人物推動的減支或對工會團體的壓抑，或英國自己想把皇家郵政給賣掉，佘契爾主義的信條，無論好或壞，一直留存至今。8日逝世、享壽87歲的佘契爾，支持去管制、小政府、自由市場及私有化。如果這些聽來很熟悉，那是因為全世界都在照抄她的劇本。掀起自由化浪潮佘契爾1979年上台，成為英國頭一位女首相，當時英國正為戰後經濟衰退所苦，但上述任何一項政策，在當時並不常見。英國智庫經濟事務研究院的主任暨經濟史學者帶戴維斯（Steve Davies）表示：「一方面，私有化、去管制等政策開始被認真採行；另一方面，過去被認真採行的政策，如計畫經濟，不再嚴肅地被看待。」佘契爾主義──以及它的美國版表親、以總統雷根為名的雷根經濟學──被視為激進的轉向。譬如，私有化一詞在她上台以前，幾乎不為人所知。▲美國總統雷根與英國首相佘契爾在白宮共舞，圖攝於1988年11月16日。（圖文／路透）佘契爾上台時，英國跟許多歐洲國家一樣，許多企業都掌握在國家手裡。她賣掉煉鋼廠、汽車廠、航太公司、石油及天然氣巨擘、航空公司及壟斷的電信業，且經常引發政治對手與前國營企業員工的反彈。即使是公屋住宅，也以折扣價賣給當時住在裡頭的租房者。然而，並非所有私有化都是成功的。在電信業等領域，大膽的競爭，不僅降低了成本，還鼓勵了成長。但在鐵道業這些複雜、基礎的產業上，其繼任者梅傑所推動的私有化政策，做得並不算成功。不過，目前的爭論，主要追問的是私有化要進行到何種程度，而非要不要放棄私有化。目前歐元區的紓困計畫中，拋售國有企業已成大勢所趨。在希臘，歐盟與國際貨幣基金提供的紓困案，要求希臘賣掉不動產、20多家企業、數十處遊艇碼頭及港口。在英國以外的地區，佘契爾的經濟影響力對東歐最明顯。共產主義集團的垮台，發生在她任期的最後時光，新上台的東歐領導者把佘契爾當成英雄，擁抱私有化，將此視為通往資本主義的明確道路。在許多國家，國有資產轉移至私人手上，結果是成功的；但在其他地方，情況並非如此。在俄羅斯，私有化的計畫是由一群自詡為佘契爾信徒的人所推動，這些人厚顏無恥地藉此自肥。它將蘇聯工業的皇冠明珠賜予一小撮與政治人物密切往來的圈內人，創造出一夜致富的社會階級，而這群人當中，有些後來在倫敦高級的貝爾桂維亞區成為佘契爾的鄰居。歐洲復興開發銀行的首席經濟學家柏格洛夫表示：「寡頭結構的出現，加上不均的問題快速惡化……證明完全挪用佘契爾女男爵的遺產有其侷限性。」改革不手軟佘契爾的「金融大變革」，去除金融市場的管制，鞏固了倫敦市扮演歐洲金融之都的角色，助長全球金融變成一項氣燄高張的行業。但其他產業在佘契爾主政之下，卻遭逢相反的命運。她最大的戰爭就是與礦工開戰。自從英國在臨海發現更便宜、更安全與更潔淨的天然氣之後，國營的採礦部門便快速衰頹。她剛上台時，英國約有25萬名煤礦工；當她下台時，僅剩5萬人還在礦場工作，至今只剩寥寥幾千人。▲佘契爾在倫敦出席「不列顛戰役」（Battle of Britain）的紀念活動，圖攝於2010年9月19日。（圖文／路透）由於金融缺乏管制，導致2008年金融危機的發生，使得佘契爾擁護去管制的立場，招來褒貶不一的評價。標準銀行的策略分析師艾希表示：「佘契爾創造了一個更具活力、更自由放任的社會；但從社群遭到破壞的角度來看，付出了龐大的社會成本。」但是，自由經濟幾乎已經成為全世界的主流經濟哲學。同樣的，當前爭辯的話題是你能在多大的程度上，去保護自己的經濟或控制金融流動，而非應該由中央來統籌的這個假想。「提出後果的問題，當然還是具有正當性。」紐約的哥倫比亞大學商學院院長哈伯德表示：「但是，她在全世界替商品、資本與勞動所大幅推動的自由市場，已是既定的事實。」（路透）More than three decades after Margaret Thatcher became Britain's prime minister, her economic legacy - reviled and revered - still ripples across the world.Whether it is euro zone finance ministers demanding debt-laden countries privatize（1） state-run companies, U.S. politicians seeking spending cuts and curbs on unions, or Britain itself putting its Royal Mail on the auction bloc, the tenets of Thatcherism, for better or worse, are alive.Thatcher, who died on Monday aged 87, stood for deregulation（2）, a smaller state, free markets and privatization. If that sounds familiar, it is because her playbook has been copied around the world.None of those policies were common in 1979 when Thatcher became Britain's first woman prime minister with the country reeling in post-war economic decay."On the one side policies such as privatization and deregulation came to be taken seriously. On the other, policies that were taken seriously - like the command economy - are no longer taken seriously." said Steve Davies, a director and economic historian at Britain's Institute of Economic Affairs think tank.Thatcherism - and its U.S. cousin Reaganomics, after the president, Ronald - were seen as radical departures. The term privatization, for example, was barely known before her tenure.When Thatcher took over Britain, much of its industry like those of other European countries was in the hands of the state.She sold off steelmakers, carmakers, aerospace firms, oil and gas giants, airlines and the telecoms monopoly - often to strong objections from political opponents and workers within the former state-owned industries. Even public housing was offered for sale, at a discount, to the tenants who lived in it.And not all privatizations were successful. Bold competition has brought down costs and encouraged growth in some areas such as telecommunications. Complex, heavily infrastructured businesses such as railways - privatized by her successor John Major - have arguably done less well.But the debate now is generally on how far privatisation should run, not on whether it should be unwound.Sell-offs of state-owned businesses are now a de rigueur（3） part of euro zone bailout programmes. In Greece, the European Union/International Monetary Fund bailout requires the sale of real estate, more than 20 companies, and dozens of marinas and ports.Thatcher's economic influence outside of Britain was most visible in Eastern Europe. After the fall of the Communist bloc at the end of her tenure, new leaders there made her a hero and embraced privatisation as the express route to capitalism.In many countries the transfer of state assets to private hands was a success; in others, less so.In Russia, a privatisation scheme designed by self-professed Thatcherites was brazenly run by its own beneficiaries. It awarded the crown jewels of Soviet industry to a handful of politically-connected insiders, creating a caste of overnight billionaires, more than a few of whom would later become Thatcher's neighbours in London's exclusive Belgravia district."The emergence of oligarchic structures and dramatic increases in inequality... demonstrate the limitations of applying Baroness Thatcher's legacy too literally," said Erik Berglof, chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.Thatcher's "big bang（4）" deregulation of British financial markets saw the City of London strut into its role as Europe's banking capital, and helped turn global finance into the swaggering industry.Other industries faced the opposite fate on her watch. Her biggest battles were with coal miners, in a state-run sector that was already in rapid decline after Britain discovered cheaper, safer and cleaner offshore natural gas.When she took power there were nearly a quarter of a million coal miners in Britain. When she left there were barely 50,000 people still working in the mines. Today only a few thousand remain.Her embrace of deregulation would get mixed reviews at the moment, given the excesses that led to the financial crisis of 2008."Thatcher created a more dynamic and laissez faire（5） society, but the social cost in terms of communities destroyed was immense," said Timothy Ash, a strategist at Standard Bank.But free market economics has become the dominant economic philosophy in most of the world.Again, the argument today is on the issue of how much you can protect your economy or control excesses, rather than on the assumption that you should run things from the centre."There are still legitimate question about outcomes," said Glenn Hubbard, dean of Columbia University Graduate School of Business in New York. "But she tremendously advanced the case of free markets for goods, capital and labour around the world."（Reuters）關鍵字詞1.privatize（v.）私有化、民營化2.deregulation（n.）去管制3.de rigueur（a.）合乎潮流的4.big bang（n.）金融大改革5.laissez faire（n.）自由放任