最高效率的价格

近几十年来，全世界在经济中追求了一个主要目标 - 最高效率。

In recent decades, the world has pursued one main goal in the economy – maximum efficiency. Production "just in time", very long and very cheap supply chains, outsourcing to low-cost countries, and then importing into rich markets – all this happened thanks to globalization and led to very good growth in corporate profits. But this also comes at a price.

近几十年来，全世界在经济中追求了一个主要目标 - 最高效率。生产“正好及时”，非常漫长且非常便宜的供应链，将其外包给低成本国家，然后进口到富裕的市场中 - 这一切都归功于全球化，并导致了公司利润的增长。但这也是有代价的。

This is what Georgi Vuldjev warned about on "Facebook".

这就是Georgi Vuldjev在“ Facebook”上警告的。

The COVID-19 pandemic most vividly showed what this price is - the loss of resilience. The lack of masks and medical equipment at the beginning of the pandemic was a direct result of globalized, efficient, but crisis-resistant supply chains. For years after that, there was a global shortage of various industrial products and materials such as chips, steel, aluminum, wood, etc.

19009年的大流行最为生动地表明了这个价格是什么 - 弹性丧失。大流行开始时缺乏口罩和医疗设备是全球化，高效但抗危机的供应链的直接结果。此后多年，全球缺乏各种工业产品和材料，例如芯片，钢，铝，木材等。

When something that is produced in, for example, Germany needs components that are imported not just from various other countries, but also from various other continents, any restriction or delay in production or trade flow on the other side of the world can suddenly turn out to be a very big problem for the German factory.

例如，当德国需要不仅从其他各个国家进口的组件，而且还需要从其他各大洲进口时，世界另一端的生产或贸易流量的任何限制或延迟可能会突然成为德国工厂的一个很大问题。

The erosion of sustainability due to globalization also manifests itself in other ways. For example, in the quality of the physical goods that we use every day. Do you remember mobile phones that lasted 5+ years? The jokes about those from Nokia? Today you change your smartphone every 2-3 years, because after that it is unusable. Do you remember the furniture from the time of your parents or grandparents? How much more massive and durable wood was it made of? Not to mention home appliances. I recently replaced a 1990s washing machine that had been working for over 25 years! Will the new one last as long?

由于全球化引起的可持续性侵蚀也以其他方式表现出来。例如，以我们每天使用的物理商品的质量。您还记得持续了5年以上的手机吗？关于诺基亚的笑话？今天，您每2 - 3年更换一次智能手机，因为之后是无法使用的。您还记得父母或祖父母时代以来家具吗？它制成了多少巨大和耐用的木材？更不用说家用电器了。我最近取代了一台已经工作了25年以上的1990年代洗衣机！新的会持续吗？

I think it's reasonable to ask ourselves whether we haven't gone too far into the extremes of globalization and trade connectivity, to the point where everything is produced in an extremely efficient but also extremely unsustainable way?

我认为，问自己是否还没有走得太远，这是合理的，以至于一切都以极其有效但非常不可持续的方式产生的地步是合理的？

The criticism of protectionist politicians like Trump is precisely along the lines of the fact that his policies will lead to a loss of economic efficiency. Higher costs, lower profits for companies and everything that follows. Including, probably, higher prices in the long run. This criticism is completely valid.

像特朗普这样的贸易保护主义政治家的批评正是他的政策将导致经济效率丧失的事实。成本更高，公司的利润较低以及随后的一切。从长远来看，可能包括更高的价格。这种批评是完全有效的。

But there is another side to the coin. From a sustainability perspective, such policies can actually be positive. And as long as they are not overdone, a certain degree of deglobalization and reshoring of production capacities can improve the balance between sustainability and efficiency in the global economy, which in my opinion has lurched too far into the latter extreme.

但是硬币还有另一面。从可持续性的角度来看，这些政策实际上可以是积极的。而且，只要它们不是过高的，生产能力的一定程度可以改善全球经济的可持续性与效率之间的平衡，在我看来，这已经使这太遥远了。