第十章 就业

CHAPTER 10

THE MARGINAL PROPENSITY TO CONSUME AND THE MULTIPLIER

第十章边际消费倾向和乘数

WE established in Chapter 8 that employment can only increase pari passu with investment. We can now carry this line of thought a stage further. For in given circumstances a definite ratio to be called the Multiplier, can be established between income and investment and, subject to certain simplifications, between the total employment and the employment directly employed on investment (which we shall call the primary employment). This further step is an integral part of our theory of employment, since it establishes a precise relationship, given the propensity to consume, between aggregate employment and income and the rate of investment. The conception of the multiplier was first introduced into economic theory by Mr. R. F. Kahn in his article on "The Relation of Home Investment to Unemployment" (Economic Journal, June 1931). His argument in this article depended on the fundamental notion that if the propensity to consume in various hypothetical circumstances is (together with certain other conditions) taken as given and we conceive the monetary or other public authority to take steps to stimulate or to retard investment, the change in the amount of employment will be a function of the net change in the amount of investment; and it aimed at laying down general principles by which to estimate the actual quantitative relationship between an increment of net investment and the increment of aggregate employment which will be associated with it. Before coming to the multiplier, however, it will be convenient to introduce the conception of the marginal propensity to consume.

在第八章，我们确立了一点，就业量只能随投资的增加而增加，现在我们可以沿着这个思路再前进一步。在既定的条件下，可以在收入和投资之间建立一个确定的比例，并将其称之为乘数。在某种简化条件下，又可以在总就业量和直接被用于投资的就业量（我们将其成为初期就业量）之间建立一个也可称之为乘数的确定的比例。这个进一步的步骤是我们整个就业理论中一个不可或缺的部分，因为它可以在给定的消费倾向下，在总就业量、总收入量和总投资量之间建立起一个精确的关系。乘数这个概念是由R?F?卡恩先生在他的论文《国内投资与失业的关系》（载《经济学杂志》，1931年6月号）中首次引入经济理论的。在

该文中，他的论点来自这样一个基本思想，即：如果把各种假设情况下的（以及其它一些条件）消费倾向作为一个既定量，如果国家的货币管理当局或其它公共当局采取措施刺激或阻挠投资，则就业量的变化就是投资量净变化的函数。该文的目的在于建立一个一般性原理，用以估计净投资的增量和由此而导致的总就业量的增量之间的数量关系。然而，在论述乘数以前，有必要介绍边际消费倾向这个概念。

I

The fluctuations in real income under consideration in this book are those which result from applying different quantities of employment (i.e. of labour-units) to a given capital equipment, so that real income increases and decreases with the number of labour-units employed. If, as we assume in general, there is a decreasing return at the margin as the number of labour-units employed on the given capital equipment is increased, income measured in terms of wage-units will increase more than in proportion to the amount of employment, which, in turn, will increase more than in proportion to the amount of real income measured (if that is possible) in terms of product. Real income measured in terms of product and income measured in terms of wage-units will, however, increase and decrease together (in the short period when capital equipment is virtually unchanged). Since, therefore, real income in terms of product, may be incapable of precise numerical measurement, it is often convenient to regard income in terms of wage-units (Y w) as an adequate working index of changes in real income. In certain contexts we must not overlook the fact that, in general, Yw increases and decreases in a greater proportion than real income; but in other contexts the fact that they always increase and decrease together renders them virtually interchangeable.

本书所考察的实际收入的波动，是把不同的就业量（也即不同数量的劳工单位）应用于一个给定资本设备，从而实际工资随着被使用的劳工单位数量的增减而增减。像我们通常所假定的那样，当用于给定资本设备的劳工单位的数量增加时，会导致报酬递减，则用工资单位计量的收入增加的比例会大于就业量增加的比例，而就业量增加的比例又会大于用产品计量的（如果可能的话）实际收入增加的比例。然而，用产品计量的实际收入和用工资单位计量的收入会一起增减（在短期内，资本设备几乎没有变化）。所以，由于用产品计量的实际收入无法用精确的数量计量，因此，用工资单位计量的收入（Y w）往往被当作实际收入

变动的实用的指标。在某些情形，我们一定不要忽视这个事实，即：一般来说，Y w的增减比例大于收入的增减比例。但是，在另外一些情形，它们总是同时增加和减少，因而它们成为几乎可以相互替代的东西。

Our normal psychological law that, when the real income of the community increases or decreases, its consumption will increase or decrease but not so fast, can, therefore, be translated--not, indeed, with absolute accuracy but subject to qualifications which are obvious and can easily be stated in a formally complete fashion--into the propositions that ΔC w and ΔY w have the same sign, but ΔY w>ΔC w, where C w is the consumption in terms of wage-units. This is merely a repetition of the proposition already established on p. 29 above. Let us define then dC w/dY w as the marginal propensity to consume.

我们通常的心理规律是：当社会的实际收入增加或者减少时，社会的消费也将增加或减少，但后者的增减或减少不会像前者那么快。所以，这条心理规律能被改写成——并非绝对准确的，而是受限制条件的约束；这些限制条件是显而易见的，并且很容易地以完整的形式加以说明——这样一个命题，即：ΔC w和ΔY w 的符号相同，但ΔY w>ΔC w。其中，C w是用工资单位计量的消费量。这不过是重复上文第29页已经确立的命题。我们将dC w/dY w称之为边际消费倾向。

This quantity is of considerable importance, be cause it tells us how the next increment of output will have to be divided between consumption and investment. For ΔY w= ΔC w+ ΔI w, where ΔC w and ΔI w are the increments of consumption and investment; so that we can write ΔY w= kΔI w, where I - I/k is equal to the marginal propensity to consume.

这个变量是相当重要的，因为它可以告诉我们，下一期产量的增量将如何在消费和投资之间进行分割。由于ΔY w＝ΔC w + ΔI w，这里ΔC w和ΔI w分别为消费和投资的增量，所以我们可以得到ΔY w = kΔI w，在这里I - 1/k等于边际消费倾向。

Let us call k the investment multiplier. It tells us that, when there is an increment of aggregate investment, income will increase by an amount which is k times the increment of investment.

我们称k为投资乘数。它告诉我们：当总投资增加时，收入的增加量等于k 乘以投资的增加量。

II

Mr. Kahn's multiplier is a little different from this, being what we may call the employment multiplier designated by k', since it measures the ratio of the increment of total employment which is associated with a given increment of primary employment in the investment industries. That is to say, if the increment of investment ΔI w leads to an increment of primary employment ΔN2in the investment industries, the increment of total employment ΔN = k'ΔN2.

卡恩先生的乘数和这里的稍有不同，因为他的乘数衡量投资品行业的初期就业量的增量与由此而导致的总就业量的增量之间的比例。也就是说，如果投资的增量ΔI w所导致的投资品行业的初期就业量为ΔN2，那么，总就业量的增量ΔN = k'ΔN2。我们称k'为就业乘数。

There is no reason in general to suppose that k = k'. For there is no necessary presumption that the shapes of the relevant portions of the aggregate supply functions or different types of industry are such that the ratio of the increment of employment in the one set of industries to the increment of demand which has stimulated it will be the same as in the other set of industries1. It is easy, indeed, to conceive of cases, as, for example, where the marginal propensity to consume is widely different from the average propensity, in which there would be a presumption in favour of some inequality between ΔY w/ΔN and ΔI w/ΔN2since there would be very divergent proportionate changes in the demands for consumption-goods and investment-goods respectively. If we wish to take account of such possible differences in the shapes of the relevant portions of the aggregate supply functions for the two groups of industries respectively, there is no difficulty in rewriting the following argument

1More precisely, if e and éare the elasticities of employment in industry as a whole and in the investment industries respectively, and if N and N2 are the numbers of men employed in industry as a whole and in the investment industries, we have

ΔY w=(Y w/e e.N ) ΔN

and

ΔI w=(I w/e’e.N2) ΔN2,

so that

ΔN=(e e/e’)(I w/N2)(N/Y w)k. ΔN2,

i.e

k’=(Iw/e’e N2)(e e N/Y w)k.

If, however, there is no reason to expect any material relevant difference in the shapes of the aggregate supply functions for industry as a whole and for the investment industries respectively, so that (I w/e’e.N2) =(Y w/e e.N’)then it follows that (ΔY w/ΔN)=( ΔI w/ΔN2) and, therefore, that k = k'.

in the more generalised form. But to elucidate the ideas involved it will be convenient to deal with the simplified case where k = k'.

一般来说，没有理由认为k = k'，因为没有必要假定不同行业的总供给函数的有关部分都具有这种特征，即：需求增量和由其引起的就业量增量的比例在各个行业都是相同的2。实际上，很容易想出这种比例不相同的情况。例如，当边际消费倾向和平均消费倾向的差异很大时，则ΔY w/ΔN和ΔI w/ΔN2很可能有一些差异，因为消费品需求变动的比例和投资品需求变动的比例会有很大的不同。如果我们把这两类行业各自的总供给函数有关部分的形状可能具有的差异考虑在内，那么，把下面的论证改写成一般化的形式不会有什么困难。但是，为了阐明其中所包含的思想，还是采取简单化的形式，即k = k'，还是很方便的。

It follows, therefore, that if the consumption psychology of the community is such that they will choose to consume, e.g., nine-tenths of an increment of income3, then the multiplier k is 10; and the total employment caused by (e.g.) increased public works will be ten times the primary employment provided by the public works themselves, assuming no reduction of investment in other directions. Only in the event of the community maintaining their consumption unchanged in spite of the increase in employment and hence in real income, will the increase of employment be restricted to the primary employment provided by the public works. It, on the other hand, they seek to consume the whole of any increment of income there will be no point of stability and prices will rise without limit. With normal psychological suppositions an increase in employment will only be associated with a decline in consumption if there is at the same time a change in the propensity to consume--as the result for instance, of propaganda in time of war in favour of restricting individual consumption; and it is only in this event that the increased employment in investment

2更确切地说，假设e和e'分别代表全部行业的就业弹性和投资品行业的就业弹性，N和N

分别代表全体

2

行业雇佣的人数和投资品行业雇佣的人数，即：

ΔY w=(Y w/e e.N ) ΔN

和

ΔI w=(I w/e’e.N2) ΔN2，

所以

ΔN=(e e/e’)(I w/N2)(N/Y w)k?ΔN2，

即

k’=(Iw/e’e N2)(e e N/Y w)k

然而，如果没有理由认为所有行业的总供给函数和投资品行业的总供给函数会具有显著的不同之处，从而，(I w/e’e.N2) =(Y w/e e.N’)，那么由此可以得到(ΔY w/ΔN)=( ΔI w/ΔN2)，因此k = k'。

3Our quantities are measured throughout in terms of wage-units.

will be associated with an unfavourable repercussion on employment in the industries producing for consumption.

因此，可以推知，如果社会的消费心理处于这样一种状态，即：人们愿意消费掉（比如说）其收入增量的9/104，那么乘数k即为10。而在不减少其它投资项目的条件下，（比如说）增加公共工程所引致的总就业量便为公共工程所提供的初期就业量的10倍。即使在就业量和实际收入增长时，如果社会的消费量仍维持不变，则就业量的增加就被限制为公共工程本身所提供的初期就业量。另一方面，如果社会愿意消费掉任何收入的全部增量，则经济不会有稳定态，价格将无限制地上升。在心理状态正常的情况下，只有在就业量增加的同时，消费倾向也发生变化时——例如，在战争时期，支持节制个人消费的宣传的结果。只有在这种情形，投资品行业就业量的增加才会导致消费品行业减少其就业量的不利反响。

This only sums up in a formula what should by now be obvious to the reader on general grounds. An increment of investment in terms of wage-units cannot occur unless the public are prepared to increase their savings in terms of wage-units. Ordinarily speaking, the public will not do this unless their aggregate income in terms of wage-units is increasing. Thus their effort to consume a part of their increased incomes will stimulate output until the new level (and distribution) of incomes provides a margin of saving sufficient to correspond to the increased investment. The multiplier tells us by how much their employment has to be increased to yield an increase in real income sufficient to induce them to do the necessary extra saving, and is a function of their psychological propensities5. if saving is the pill and consumption is the jam, the extra jam has to be proportioned to the size of the additional pill. Unless the psychological propensities of the public are different from what we are supposing, we have here established the law that increased employment for investment must necessarily stimulate the industries producing for consumption and thus lead to a total increase of employment which is a multiple of the primary employment required by the investment itself.

下面的论述不过是以通常所用的语言概括一下对读者来说已经是显而易见的东西。除非公众愿意增加他们的用工资单位计量的储蓄量，就不可能增加用工

4我们的数量都用工资单位计量。

5Though in the more generalised case it is also a function of the physical conditions of production in the investment and consumption industries respectively.

资单位计量的投资量。而通常来说，除非以工资单位计量的总收入有所增加，公众是不会增加其储蓄的。这样，他们消费其一部分收入增量的努力会刺激产量，直到收入（和所分配）的新水平所提供的储蓄额的增量足够等于投资增量。乘数告诉我们，公众的就业量应该增加多少才能使得他们的实际收入的增加大到足以诱使公众进行必要的额外储蓄，而且使乘数成为公众心理倾向的一个函数6。如果储蓄是药丸，消费是果酱，那么额外果酱的多少必须与额外药丸的大小成比例。除非公众的心理倾向和我们所设想的不同，我们可以建立一条规律，即：投资品行业增加的就业量必然会刺激生产消费品的行业，从而导致总就业量的增加，它是投资品行业本身所要求的初期就业量的一个乘数。

It follows from the above that, if the marginal propensity to consume is not far short of unity, small fluctuations in investment will lead to wide fluctuations in employment; but, at the same time, a comparatively small increment of investment will lead to full employment. If, on the other hand, the marginal propensity to consume is not much above zero, small fluctuations in investment will lead to correspondingly small fluctuations in employment; but, at the same time it may require a large increment of investment to produce full employment. In the former case involuntary unemployment would be an easily remedied malady, though liable to be, troublesome if it is allowed to develop. In the latter case, employment may be less variable but liable to settle down at a low level and to prove recalcitrant to any but the most drastic remedies. In actual fact the marginal propensity to consume seems to lie somewhere between these two extremes, though much nearer to unity than to zero; with the result that we have, in a sense, the worst of both worlds, fluctuations in employment being considerable and, at the same time, the increment in investment required to produce full employment being too great to be easily handled. Unfortunately the fluctuations have been sufficient to prevent the nature of the malady from being obvious, whilst its severity is such that it cannot be remedied unless its nature is understood.

从上文可以推知，如果边际消费倾向的数值接近1时，投资量的微小波动会大致就业量的巨大波动。但与此同时，投资量的较少增加将导致充分就业。另一方面，如果边际消费倾向的数值接近0时，投资量的微小波动会导致就业量相应的微小波动。但与此同时，它可能要求投资量的巨大增加才能导致充分就业。在前一种情形，非自愿失业会成为易于治疗的病症，虽然听其发展下去，将会造成6虽然在更一般化的情形，乘数也分别是生产投资品和消费品行业的生产物质条件的函数。

问题；在后一种情形，就业量的变化可能较小但却可能保持在一个低水平，并且除非猛烈的治疗，否则这一低水平将顽强地保持下去。在现实中，边际消费倾向似乎处于这两极之间，虽然它接近于1而不是接近于0。结果，在一定意义上，我们可以说，两个最坏的情况都存在，即：就业量相当大的波动，同时为了达到充分就业而要求投资量有很大的增加，大到难以筹措。不幸的是，就业量的波动使病症的性质不能一望而知，而其严重性却大到除非除非理解病症的性质就无法加以治疗的地步。

When full employment is reached, any attempt to increase investment still further will set up a tendency in money-prices to rise without limit, irrespective of the marginal propensity to consume; i.e. we shall have reached a state of true inflation7. Up to this point, however, rising prices will be, associated with an increasing aggregate real income.

在达到充分就业之后，不论边际消费倾向取什么值，任何使投资量进一步增加的企图，都将会造成价格无限上升的趋势，也即我们达到了一个真正通货膨胀的境地8。然而，在达到这一境地之前，上升的价格与实际总收入的增加相伴随。

III

We have been dealing so far with a net increment of investment. If, therefore, we wish to apply the above without qualification to the effect of (e.g.) increased public works, we have to assume that there is no offset through decreased investment in other directions,--and also, of course, no associated change in the propensity of the community to consume. Mr. Kahn was mainly concerned in the article referred to above in considering what offsets we ought to take into account as likely to be important, and in suggesting quantitative estimates. For in an actual case there are several factors besides some specific increase of investment of a given kind which enter into the final result. If, for example, a Government employs 100,000 additional men on public works, and if the multiplier (as defined above) is 4, it is not safe to assume that aggregate employment will increase by 400,000. For the new policy may have adverse reactions on investment in other directions.

7Cf. Chapter 21, p. 303, below.

8参阅下文第21章，第303页。

到目前为止，我们所论述的是投资的净增加量。因此，如果我们想要把上面的内容无条件地应用于（例如）增加公共工程地作用，那么，我们必须假设不存在其它方面的具有抵消作用的投资量的减少，以及当然还有不存在同时改变其取值的社会消费倾向。卡恩先生在上面引用的那篇文章中主要研究我们应把哪一些可能是重要的抵消作用考虑在内，并且研究对它们作出数量上的估计，因为在现实的事例中，除了已知类型的投资的具体增加额之外，还存在着能影响最终结果的其它因素。例如，假设政府在公共工程上雇佣了10万名额外人员，又假设乘数（如上文所定义的）为4，那么，设想总就业量增加40万人是不可靠的，因为在该项公共工程中实行的新政策可能对其它方面的投资产生不利影响。

It would seem (following Mr. Kahn) that the following are likely in a modern community to be the factors which it is most important not to overlook (though the first two will not be fully intelligible until after Book IV. has been reached):

以下所列（依据卡恩先生）似乎是一个现代社会里最重要的而不容忽视的因素（虽然前两点是一直到第4编以后才能充分理解）：

(i) The method of financing the policy and the increased working cash required by the increased employment and the associated rise of prices, may have the effect of increasing the rate of interest and so retarding investment in other directions, unless the monetary authority takes steps to the contrary; whilst, at the same time, the increased cost of capital goods will reduce their marginal efficiency to the private investor, and this will require an actual fall in the rate of interest to offset it.

（i）除非货币管理当局采取措施加以矫正，否则，对公共工程的金融支持以及由于就业量增加和价格上涨所造成的周转现金的增加，可以影响利息率的上升，从而阻挠其它方面的投资。与此同时，资本品成本的增加，会减少私人投资者的资本的边际效率，也要求利息率的实际下降来抵消。

(ii) With the confused psychology which often prevails, the Government programme may, through its effect on "confidence" increase liquidity-preference or diminish the marginal efficiency of capital, which, again, may retard other investment unless measures are taken to offset it.

（ii）由于往往会存在的混乱心理状态，政府的公共工程项目通过它对“信心”的影响，可以增加流动性偏好，或者减少资本边际效率。对此，如果不采取措施予以抵消，那么它们会妨碍其它方面的投资。

(iii) In an open system with foreign-trade relations, some part of the multiplier of the increased investment will accrue to the benefit of employment in foreign countries, since a proportion of the increased consumption will diminish our own country's favourable foreign balance; so that, if we consider only the effect on domestic employment as distinct from world employment, we must diminish the full figure of the multiplier. On the other hand our own country may recover a portion of this leakage through favourable repercussions due to the action of the multiplier in the foreign country in increasing its economic activity.

（iii）在一个具有对外贸易的开放经济制度中，增加投资的乘数的一部分作用会被消耗于提高外国的就业量，因为一部分消费增量会减少我们自己国家的贸易顺差；从而，如果我们所考虑的仅仅是国内的，而不是整个世界的就业量，那么，我们必须降低计算出的乘数的数值。另一方面，通过乘数作用在外国所引起的经济活动的增加对我们的国家会产生有利的反响，收回一部分外溢的利益。

Furthermore, if we are considering changes of a substantial amount, we have to allow for a progressive change in the marginal propensity to consume, as the position of the margin is gradually shifted; and hence in the multiplier. The marginal propensity to consume is not constant for all levels of employment, and it is probable that there will be, as a rule, a tendency for it to diminish as employment increases; when real income increases that is to say, the community will wish to consume a gradually diminishing proportion of it.

进而言之，如果我们所考虑的是投资量相当大的波动，我们就必须计入随着数量的变动而发生的边际消费倾向的变动，从而也必须计入乘数的变动。边际消费倾向并不是在一切就业量水平上都保持不变，而且，一般来说，当就业量增加时，边际消费倾向趋于减少，就是说，当实际收入增加时，社会愿意逐渐减少收入用于消费的比例。

There are also other factors, over and above the operation of the general rule just mentioned, which may operate to modify the marginal propensity to consume, and hence the multiplier; and these other factors seem likely,

as a rule, to accentuate the tendency of the general rule rather than to offset it. For, in the first place, the increase of employment will tend, owing to the effect of diminishing returns in the short period, to increase the proportion of aggregate income which accrues to the entrepreneurs whose individual marginal propensity to consume is probably less than the average for the community as a whole. In the second place, unemployment is likely to be associated with negative saving in certain quarters, private or public, because the unemployed may be living either on the savings of themselves and their friends or on public relief which is partly financed out of loans; with the result that re-employment will gradually diminish these particular acts of negative saving and reduce therefore the marginal propensity to consume more rapidly than would have occurred from an equal increase in the community's real income accruing in different circumstances.

除了刚才所提及的一般原则的作用外，还存在其它因素改变边际消费倾向，从而改变所乘数的取值。一般来说，这些其它因素的作用似乎很可能在于加强而不是抵消上述一般原则的作用，其原因在于：首先，由于在短期中收益递减的作用，就业量的增加趋向于增加企业家所能分摊到的总收入的比例，而企业家的边际消费倾向很可能小于整个社会的平均值。其次，在某些私人和公共部门中，失业的存在很可能会导致负储蓄，因为失业者会依靠他们自己的储蓄或者他们亲友的储蓄或者依靠部分资金来源于借贷的公共救济来维持生活，其后果是：失业者的再就业会逐渐减少这些特殊的负储蓄，从而会减少边际消费倾向。而在没有上述失业者再就业的情况下，即使国民收入增加的数量相同，边际消费倾向减少的速度也会变得较为缓慢。

In any case, the multiplier is likely to be greater for a small net increment of investment than for a large increment; so that, where substantial changes are in view, we must be guided by the average value of the multiplier based on the average marginal propensity to consume over the range in question.

不论在哪一种情况，当投资的净增加数量很小时，其乘数值要大于投资净增加数量较大时的乘数值，因此，当我们所考虑的情况是投资作出相当大的改变时，我们应该使用根据考虑范围内的平均消费倾向而计算出的乘数的平均值。

Mr. Kahn has examined the probable quantitative result of such factors as these in certain hypothetical special cases. But, clearly, it is not

possible to carry any generalisation very far. One can only say, for example, that a typical modern community would probably tend to consume not much less than 80 per cent. of any increment of real income, if it were a closed system with the consumption of the unemployed paid for by transfers from the consumption of other consumers, so that the multiplier after allowing for offsets would not be much less than 5. In a country, however, where foreign trade accounts for, say, 20 percent of consumption and where the unemployed receive out of loans or their equivalent up to, say, 50 per cent of their normal consumption when in work the multiplier may fall as low as 2 or 3 times the employment provided by a specific new investment. Thus a given fluctuation of investment will be associated with a much less violent fluctuation of employment in a country in which foreign trade plays a large part and unemployment relief is financed on a larger scale out of borrowing (as was the case, e.g., in Great Britain in 1931), than in a country in which these factors are less important (as in the United States in 1932)9.

卡恩先生曾经考察过类似因素在某些设想的特例中对乘数的数值可能造成的影响。但显然很难得出一般性的结论。例如，我们所能说的不过是，对一个典型的现代社会而言，它所消费掉的其收入增量很可能大大低于80％。如果它是一个封闭的经济制度，而它对失业者的补助来源于向其他消费者征收的款项，那么，在计入各种抵消因素之后，它的乘数不会大大小于5。然而，在一个进口消费品占有其（比如说）20％的消费量的国家，如果它的失业者补助来源于贷款或类似的方式，如果补助的数额接近于失业者在就业时正常消费量的50％，那么，乘数的数值可以降低到2或3。这样，在一个对外贸易额占有很大比重、而失业补助在很大程度上又来源于借贷的国家中（如1931年的英国），投资的波动所导致的就业量的波动要远小于上述因素影响较小的国家（如1932年的美国）10。

It is, however, to the general principle of the multiplier to which we have to look for an explanation of how fluctuations in the amount of investment, which are a comparatively small proportion of the national income, are capable of generating fluctuations in aggregate employment and income so much greater in amplitude than themselves.

9 Cf., however, below, p. 128, for an American estimate.

10关于对美国的估计数字，参照下文第128页。

尽管如此，我们还是应该依据乘数的一般原理来解释为什么占有国民收入比重相对较小的投资的波动会造成总就业量和收入的波动，且波动的幅度远远超过投资本身的波动幅度。

IV

The discussion has been carried on, so far, on the basis of a change in aggregate investment which has been foreseen sufficiently in advance for the consumption industries to advance pari passu with the capitalgoods industries without more disturbance to the price of consumption-goods than is consequential, in conditions of decreasing returns, on an increase in the quantity which is produced.

到目前为止，我们的论述基于一个假设条件，即：总投资的变动已在时间足够长的事前已经被预料到，所以消费品行业和资本品行业同时增加产量，从而，除了增产所能引起的收益递减的作用外，消费品价格不会受到其它的干扰。

In general, however, we have to take account of the case where the initiative comes from an increase in the output of the capital-goods industries which was not fully foreseen. It is obvious that an initiative of this description only produces its full effect on employment over a period of time. I have found, however, in discussion that this obvious fact often gives rise to some confusion between the logical theory of the multiplier, which holds good continuously, without time-lag, at all moments of time, and the consequences of an expansion in the capital-goods industries which take gradual effect, subject to time-lag and only after an interval.

然而，一般来说，我们应该考察的却是变动来源于完全没有被预料到的投资品行业产量增加的情况。这种来源的变动显然只能在一段时期以后才能对就业量发生它的全部作用。我发现，在讨论这一显然存在的事实时，往往会引起对两种事物的混淆。一种是合乎逻辑推理的乘数理论本身，它在任何连续的时间点上均能成立，而且不存在时滞。另一种是资本品行业扩展的后果，它具有时滞，从而在一段时间以后才能逐渐发生作用。

The relationship between these two things can be cleared up by pointing out, firstly that an unforeseen, or imperfectly foreseen, expansion in the capital-goods industries does not have an instantaneous effect of equal amount on the aggregate of investment but causes a gradual increase of

the latter; and, secondly, that it may cause a temporary departure of the marginal propensity to consume away from its normal value, followed, however, by a gradual return to it.

这两种事物之间的关系可以通过下列各点加以澄清：第一，没有被预料到的和没有被完全预料到的资本品行业的扩展并不对总投资量立即发生它的全部影响，而是逐渐使投资量增加；第二，它可以使边际消费倾向暂时离开其正常值，然后逐渐回归到正常值。

Thus an expansion in the capital-goods industries causes a series of increments in aggregate investment occurring in successive periods over an interval of time, and a series of values of the marginal propensity to consume in these successive periods which differ both from what the values would have been if the expansion had been foreseen and from what they will be when the community has settled down to a new steady level of aggregate investment. But in every interval of time the theory of the multiplier holds good in the sense that the increment of aggregate demand is equal to the increment of aggregate investment multiplied by the marginal propensity to consume.

由此可见，资本品行业的扩展在一段时间中会造成发生于一连串时期中的一系列总投资增量以及一连串时期中的一系列边际消费倾向的数值。这些数值不同于在投资品行业的扩展能被预料到时所应有的数值，也不同于当整个社会已经习惯于新的总投资水平时所应有的数值。但在每一个上述一连串时期中，乘数理论仍能够在下列意义上成立，即：总需求增量等于总投资增量乘以边际消费倾向所决定的乘数。

The explanation of these two sets of facts can be seen most clearly by taking the extreme case where the expansion of employment in the capital-goods industries is so entirely unforeseen that in the first instance there is no increase whatever in the output of consumption-goods. In this event the efforts of those newly employed in the capital-goods industries to consume a proportion of their increased incomes will raise the prices of consumption-goods until a temporary equilibrium between demand and supply has been brought about partly by the high prices causing a postponement of consumption, partly by a redistribution of income in favour of the saving classes as an effect of the increased profits resulting from the higher prices, and partly by the higher prices causing a depletion of stocks. So far as the balance is restored by a postponement of

consumption there is a temporary reduction of the marginal propensity to consume, i.e. of the multiplier itself, and in so far as there is a depletion of stocks, aggregate investment increases for the time being by less than the increment of investment in the capital-goods industries,--i.e. the thing to be multiplied does not increase by the full increment of investment in the capital-goods industries. As time goes on, however, the consumption-goods industries adjust themselves to the new demand, so that when the deferred consumption is enjoyed, the marginal propensity to consume rises temporarily above its normal level, to compensate for the extent to which it previously fell below it, and eventually returns to its normal level; whilst the restoration of stocks to their previous figure causes the increment of aggregate investment to be temporarily greater than the increment of investment in the capital-goods industries (the increment of working capital corresponding to the greater output also having temporarily the same effect).

为了澄清上述两种事物之间的关系，可以考察一个极端的情形，在其中，资本品行业就业的扩大未被预料到的程度如此之大，以致在第一个时期内，消费品行业的产量没有任何增加。在这种情况下，那些在资本品行业中新近就业的人们消费掉其一部分收入的行为会抬高消费品价格，一直到需求和供给得到暂时的均衡时为止。暂时的均衡之所以能够达到，部分原因在于较高的价格推迟了一部分人的消费，另一部分原因在于较高的价格所带来的利润的增加使收入的再分配有利于储蓄多的阶层，还有一部分原因在于较高的价格造成了存货的减少。以均衡的恢复是由于推迟消费而论，边际消费倾向的数值，从而乘数本身的数值势必暂时降低。以均衡的恢复是由于存货的减少而论，总投资的增加势必暂时小于投资品行业投资的增加——也就是说，在计算乘数的影响中，被乘数值的增量小于投资品行业的投资增量。然而，随着时间的流逝，消费品行业会进行调整，使自己能适应新的需求，从而，当被推迟的消费得以实现时，边际消费倾向会暂时上升到高于正常的水平，以弥补它过去下降到低于正常水平的地步，并且最终会恢复它的正常水平。与此同时，恢复存货到减少以前的原有数量也会使总投资的增量暂时大于资本品行业投资的增量（与较大的产量相适应的周转资金的增量也暂时具有相同的作用）。

The fact that an unforeseen change only exercises its full effect on employment over a period of time is important in certain contexts;--in particular it plays a part in the analysis of the trade cycle (on lines

such as I followed in my Treatise on Money). But it does not in any way affect the significance of the theory of the multiplier as set forth in this chapter; nor render it inapplicable as an indicator of the total benefit to employment to be expected from an expansion in the capital-goods industries. Moreover, except in conditions where the consumption industries are already working almost at capacity so that an expansion of output requires an expansion of plant and not merely the more intensive employment of the existing plant, there is no reason to suppose that more than a brief interval of time need elapse before employment in the consumption industries is advancing pari passu with employment in the capital-goods industries with the multiplier operating near its normal figure.

预料不到的改变只能在一段时间以后才能发挥出它对就业量的全部影响这一事实在某些情形是很重要的——特别是在经济周期分析中更是如此（像我在《货币论》中所具有的思路那样）。但是，这一事实丝毫不影响本章所建立的乘数理论，也不使乘数不能被用来资本品行业的扩展对就业所带来的有利的全部影响。此外，除非消费品行业的营运几乎已经达到生产能力的极限，从而使得要进一步扩大产量就必须增添厂房设备，而不是仅仅较为集约化地使用现有的厂房设备，那么，就有理由认为，在一个短暂的时期之后，消费品行业的就业量就会和投资品行业的就业量同时增加，而乘数则大致会按照它的正常数值发挥作用。

v

We have seen above that the greater the marginal propensity to consume, the greater the multiplier, and hence the greater the disturbance to employment corresponding to a given change in investment. This might seem to lead to the paradoxical conclusion that a poor community in which saving is a very small proportion of income will be more subject to violent fluctuations than a wealthy community where saving is a larger proportion of income and the multiplier consequently smaller.

我们在上文中已经看到，边际消费倾向越大，乘数就越大，因而相应于既定的投资变动量，就业量受到的影响就越大，这似乎可能导致一个令人困惑的结论：一个储蓄仅占其收入微小部分的贫穷社会却比储蓄占其收入较大比例，从而乘数的数值较小的富裕社会，更容易遭受猛烈的经济波动。

This conclusion, however, would overlook the distinction between the effects of the marginal propensity to consume and those of the average

propensity to consume. For whilst a high marginal propensity to consume involves a larger proportionate effect from a given percentage change in investment, the absolute effect will, nevertheless, be small if the average propensity to consume is also high. This may be illustrated as follows by a numerical example.

然而，这个结论忽视了边际消费倾向的影响和平均消费倾向的影响之间的差别，因为，虽然对一给定的投资变动比例，高数值的边际消费倾向会引起较大的成比例的影响，然而，如果平均消费倾向也是高数值的，它在绝对量上的影响还是微小的。这可以用下面的数字例子加以说明。

Let us suppose that a community's propensity to consume is such that, so long as its real income does not exceed the output from employing 5,000,000 men on its existing capital equipment, it consumes the whole of its income; that of the output of the next 100,000 additional men employed it consumes 99 per cent., of the next 100,000 after that 98 per cent., of the third 100,000 97 per cent and so on; and that 10,000,000 men employed represents full employment. It follows from this that, when 5,000,000 + n x 100,000 men are employed, the multiplier at the margin is 100/n, and {n(n+I)}/{2.(50+n)} per cent. of the national income is invested.

我们假设一个社会的消费倾向是这样的：只要该社会的实际收入不超过在现有资本设备条件下雇佣500万人所得到的产量，它消费掉其全部收入，对于进一步增雇的10万人的产量，它消费掉其中的99％；对于再进一步增雇的10万人的产量，消费掉其中的98％；对于第三次增雇的10万人，则消费掉97％；依此类推。同时，雇佣1000万人代表充分就业。根据这些假设条件，当5,000,000 + n x 100,000人被雇佣时，此时乘数的数值为100/n，而投资占国民收入的百分比为{n(n+I)}/{2?(50+n)}。

Thus when 5,200,000 men are employed the multiplier is very large, namely 50, but investment is only a trifling proportion of current income, namely, 0.06 per cent.; with the result that if investment falls off by a large proportion, say about two-thirds, employment will only decline to 5,100,000, i.e. by about 2 per cent. On the other hand, when 9,000,000 men are employed, the marginal multiplier is comparatively small, namely 2(1/2), but investment is now a substantial proportion of current income, namely, 9 per cent.; with the result that if investment falls by two-thirds, employment will decline to 6,900,000, namely, by 23 per cent. In the limit where investment falls off to zero, employment will decline by about 4

per cent in the former case, whereas in the latter case it will decline by 44 per cent11.

这样，当雇佣人数为520万时，乘数的数值很大，为50。但投资只占同期国民收入的很小部分，为0.06％；结果是：如果投资下降一个很大的比例，例如大约为2/3，而就业量将只下降到510万人，即只下降约2％。另一方面，当雇

佣900万人时，边际乘数就比较小，即为21

2

，但现在的投资占当期收入的一个

相当大的比例，即为9％；结果，如果投资下降2/3，则就业量将下降到690万人，即下降23％。在极端情形，当投资下降到0时，就业量在前一种情况下，就业量将下降约4％；在后一种情形下，就业量将下降44％12。

In the above example, the poorer of the two communities under comparison is poorer by reason of under-employment. But the same reasoning applies by easy adaptation if the poverty is due to inferior skill, technique or equipment. Thus whilst the multiplier is larger in a poor community, the effect on employment of fluctuations in investment will be much greater in a wealthy community, assuming that in the latter current investment represents a much larger proportion of current output13.

在上面的例子中，两个社会中的比较贫穷的那个之所以比较贫穷，是由于就业不足。但是，如果贫穷是由于低下的技巧、技术和设备，则论证只需略加修改，以上所说的投资可以提高收入的道理也可适用。由此可见，虽然在贫穷社会乘数较大，而在富裕社会，投资量的波动对就业量的影响较大，如果其当期投资在现行产量中占有很大的比例14。

11Quantity of investment is measured, above, by the number of men employed in producing it. Thus if there are diminishing returns per unit of employment as employment increases, what is double the quantity of investment on the above scale will be less than double on a physical scale (if such a scale is available).

12上面，投资的数量是用生产资本品雇佣的人数计量的。这样，当就业量增加时，如果每单位就业者的报酬递减，那么，以上述尺度为基础的投资量的加倍将少于按实物尺度（如果可能的话）为基础的投资量的加倍。

13More generally, the ratio of the proportional change in total demand to the proportional change in investment

(ΔY/Y)/( ΔI/I)=( ΔY/Y).(Y-C)/( ΔY-ΔC)={I-(C/Y)}/{I-(dC/dY)}

As wealth increases dC/dY diminishes, but C/Y also diminishes. Thus the fraction increases or diminishes according as consumption increases or diminishes in a smaller or greater proportion than income.

14更一般地说，总需求量变动的比例和投资量变动的比例之比为：

(ΔY/Y)/( ΔI/I)=( ΔY/Y).(Y-C)/( ΔY-ΔC)={I-(C/Y)}/{I-(dC/dY)}

随着财富的增加，dC/dY会减少，但C/Y也会减少。由此可见，式中的分数值的增加或减少，取决于消费增减的比例是小于还是大于收入增减的比例。

It is also obvious from the above that the employment of a given number of men on public works will (on the assumptions made) have a much larger effect on aggregate employment at a time when there is severe unemployment, than it will have later on when full employment is approached. In the above example, if, at a time when employment has fallen to 5,200,000, an additional 100,000 men are employed on public works, total employment will rise to 6,400,000. But if employment is already 9,000,000 when the additional 100,000 men are taken on for public works, total employment will only rise to 9,200,000. Thus public works even of doubtful utility may pay for themselves over and over again at a time of severe unemployment, if only from the diminished cost of relief expenditure, provided that we can assume that a smaller proportion of income is saved when unemployment is greater; but they may become a more doubtful proposition as a state of full employment is approached. Furthermore, if our assumption is correct that the marginal propensity to consume falls off steadily as we approach full employment; it follows that it will become more and more troublesome to secure a further given increase of employment by further increasing investment.

从上面的例子中，显然还能看到：在公共工程中，当一个既定人数的就业量（按照例子中所作的假定）存在严重的失业时，对总就业量将会产生比以后接近充分就业时大得多的影响。在上面的例子中，当就业量下降到520万人时，在公共工程中又额外增雇了10万人，于是总就业量就上升到640万人。但如果额外的10万人是在就业量已经为900万人时被雇佣于公共工程的，则总就业量只会上升到920万人。因此，即使这项公共工程的效用值得怀疑，但只要我们假定：当失业量较大时，储蓄在收入中所占比重较小，那么，仅从节约救济资金的代价这个角度考虑，即使其本身的效用尚有疑问的公共工程项目也值得一次又一次地加以推行。但在接近充分就业状态时，这些项目的推行就会成为值得争论的问题。此外，如果我们所假设的边际消费倾向随着就业量的增加而递减的条件是正确的，那么，要想通过持续投资的增加来增加既定量的就业就会越来越困难。

It should not be difficult to compile a chart of the marginal propensity to consume at each stage of a trade cycle from the statistics (if they were available) of aggregate income and aggregate investment at successive dates. At present, however, our statistics are not accurate enough (or compiled sufficiently with this specific object in view) to allow us to infer more than highly approximate estimates. The best for the purpose, of which I am aware, are Mr. Kuznets' figures for the United States (already referred to, p. 103 above), though they are, nevertheless, very precarious.

Taken in conjunction with estimates of national income these suggest, for what they are worth, both a lower figure and a more stable figure for the investment multiplier than I should have expected. If single years are taken in isolation, the results look rather wild. But if they are grouped in pairs, the multiplier seems to have been less than 3 and probably fairly stable in the neighborhood of 2.5. This suggests a marginal propensity to consume not exceeding 60 to 70 per cent.--a figure quite plausible for the boom, but surprisingly, and, in my judgment, improbably low for the slump. It is possible, however, that the extreme financial conservatism of corporate finance in the United States, even during the slump, may account for it. In other words, if, when investment is falling heavily through a failure to undertake repairs and replacements, financial provision is made, nevertheless, in respect of such wastage, the effect is to prevent the rise in the marginal propensity to consume which would have occurred otherwise. I suspect that this factor may have played a significant part in aggravating the degree of the recent slump in the United States. On the other hand, it is possible that the statistics somewhat overstate the decline in investment, which is alleged to have fallen off by more than 75 per cent in 1932 compared with 1929, whilst net "capital formation" declined by more than 95 per cent;--a moderate change in these estimates being capable of making a substantial difference to the multiplier.

要想在不同时期的总收入和总投资的统计数字（如果它们存在的话），要想绘制一张说明在经济周期不同阶段的边际消费倾向的数值的表格，应该不是一件困难的时期。然而，在目前，我们的统计数据并未精确到足以（或者按照我们的这一要求收集到足够的数据）使我们得出比粗略的估计更精确一些的结果。据我所知，就我们的目的而言，最好的统计数据是库兹涅兹为美国所计算的数字（已经在上文的第103页引用过），虽然这些数字还很不精确。撇开这些不精确之处不谈，从库兹涅兹的包括国民收入在内的估计数字中所得到的投资乘数比我期望的数值要低，也比我期望的要平稳。如果孤立地考察单个年份，其数据的变动大到不合情理的地步。但是，如果把两年的数据编成一组，那么，由此得到的乘数数值似乎小于3，并且很可能稳定在2.5左右。这意味着边际消费倾向不至于超过60％到70％——该数值对繁荣时期而言是很有可能的，但按照我的判断，以萧条时期而论，该数值却低到令人难以臵信。尽管如此，美国公司极端保守的理财方式也有可能造成这一后果。换而言之，在由于没有对资本设备进行维修和更换而导致投资大幅度下降的情况下，如果仍然在财务计算中扣除维修和更新的储