日本地震和之前的全球金融海啸发生后，各国政府都面临压力，要求它们采取措施，保证民众不致暴露于那些概率极小事件的风险。但它们真的应该这样做吗？保证意味着需要“闲置”一些资源，以构建一个缓冲层，使这些资源无法参与产品和服务的生产，而只有在危机发生的时候才会派上用场广州英语翻译。

Since the Japanese earthquake and, earlier, the global financial tsunami, governments have been pressed to guarantee their populations against all risks exposed by those extremely low probability events. But should they? Guarantees require the building up of a buffer of idle resources that are not otherwise engaged in the production of goods and services. They are employed only if, and when, the crisis emerges。

调拨资源以构建缓冲层，是一个社会必须做出的最重要选择之一。如果政策制定者们选择对国民面临的每一种想象得到的风险都提供“缓冲”，那么国民的生活水平几乎肯定会下降。一些较穷的国家，虽然发生严重地震的风险跟日本差不多，但并未采取日本那样高水准的防震措施，这并非偶然。“缓冲”在很大程度上是一种奢侈品，只有富国能够负担。至于我们应该把增加的“缓冲”资源看作一国资本存量的一部分，还是一国净资产的一部分，那是无关紧要的。两者同等大小，只是从不同角度来看。合并起来看，一国净资本存量必然等同于家庭、企业与政府的净资产之和，外加该国的净国际投资头寸北京翻译公司。

The choice of funding buffers is one of the most important decisions that societies must make. If policymakers choose to buffer their populations against every conceivable risk, their standards of living would almost certainly decline. It is no accident that earthquake protection of the extent employed in Japan has not been chosen by less prosperous countries at similar risk of a serious earthquake. Buffers are largely a luxury of rich nations. It does not matter whether we perceive an increased buffer as part of a nation’s capital stock, or as part of the net equity of the country. They are the same magnitude from different perspectives. Consolidated, the net capital stock of a nation must equal the sum of the equity of households, businesses and governments, adjusted for the nation’snet international investment position.