伦敦金融城女银行家起诉HBOS性别歧视
Woman banker set to sue HBOS for ￡11m
一位高级女银行家将提起性别歧视和非法解雇诉讼，状告英国最大的按揭和储蓄服务供应商HBOS，要求该银行赔偿逾1100万英镑。此前她声称，她试图重回办公室时，实际上被公司解雇了。
A senior female banker is set to sue HBOS for more than ￡11m in a sex discrimination and wrongful dismissal case after claiming she was, in effect, sacked when she tried to return to her desk.
该行资产债务管理业务负责人克莱尔?布莱特(Claire Bright)3个月前被停职。昨天她来到位于伦敦金融城的HBOS总部，与几位高层发生了冲突。
Claire Bright, who was head of asset and liability management at the country’s largest mortgage and savings provider, confronted bosses yesterday when she arrived at HBOS headquarters in the City having been suspended three months ago.
布莱特女士今年47岁，她每年的薪酬方案约为60万英镑。她声称，她与一位男性高级同事发生冲突后，得到了不公正的对待。【您现在阅读的文章来自“中国学习考试网”，请记住我们的永久域名：www.stu88.com 】
Ms Bright, 47, whose earnings package was about ￡600,000 a year, claims she was treated unfairly following a clash with a senior male colleague.
在被停职3个月后，伦敦金融城的这位银行家来到HBOS的办公室，决心彻底解决这一争端。上午11点不到，她现身并告诉在场等待的记者，她已被解雇。
After spending three months on suspension, the City banker arrived at HBOS offices determined to bring the dispute to a head. Shortly before 11am, she emerged to tell waiting reporters that she had been dismissed.
她的律师吉莲?霍华德(Gillian Howard)表示，公司不许布莱特女士重返办公室工作，她此前已向伦敦斯特拉特福德就业法庭提交性别歧视和受害赔偿要求，并将增加诉讼事由，起诉公司非法解雇和不公正解雇。
Gillian Howard, her lawyer, said Ms Bright had been stopped from returning to work and would add actions for wrongful dismissal and unfair dismissal to her claim for sex discrimination and victimisation already filed with Stratford employment tribunal in London.
HBOS银行承认，布莱特女士提出了“与性别歧视指控相关的抱怨”，并已按照公司程序进行处理，银行将该程序描述为“全面有力的”。
HBOS acknowledged that “a grievance relating to allegations of sex discrimination” had been brought by Ms Bright and dealt with under company procedures, which it described as “vigorous and comprehensive”.
公司表示：“公司程序已经完成，布莱特女士的指控没有得到支持。”
“That process has been completed and Ms Bright’s allegations have not been upheld,” the company said.
HBOS银行继续表示，这位银行家此前与HBOS国债部的高级经理会面，并受到了礼貌的对待。“她仍是公司雇员，”公司表示。该银行补充道，在任何法庭听证会上，它将就自己的立场进行“有力的辩护”。
HBOS went on to say that the banker had met senior bosses from HBOS Treasury and been treated with courtesy. “She remains an employee of the company,” it said. The bank added that it would “vigorously defend” its position at any tribunal hearing.
不过，在HBOS总部外面，霍华德女士表示：“他们毫无根据地解雇了我的委托人。现在我们要返回我的办公室提起诉讼。”
But outside HBOS headquarters, Ms Howard said: “They dismissed my client without any reason. We are now going back to my office to issue proceedings.
2006年1月18日 星期三
日本假冒品牌网上销售猖獗
Luxury fakes cost makers $4.3bn a year
由于互联网销售的假冒设计师商品，全球最著名的一些时尚品牌每年在日本估计损失5000亿日元(合43亿美元)，这些品牌包括路易威登(Louis Vuitton)、香奈儿(Chanel)、普拉达(Prada)、古姿(Gucci)、宝格丽(Bulgari)、劳力士(Rolex)和卡地亚(Cartier)。
Some of the most famous names in the world of fashion, including Louis Vuitton, Chanel, Prada, Gucci, Bulgari, Rolex and Cartier, are losing an estimated Y500bn ($4.3bn) a year in Japan from the sale of fake designer goods over the internet.
在日本，网上销售的奢侈品牌商品有一半以上是假货。法国国际保护工业与艺术产权制造商联合会(Union des Fabricants)日本分会主席洛朗·杜布瓦(Laurent Dubois)表示，这是亚洲最恶劣的造假行为。这个全球协会的成立旨在打击假冒行为。
More than half the luxury-branded goods sold over the internet in Japan are fakes. This was the worst level of abuse in Asia, said Laurent Dubois, chairman of the Japanese arm of the Union des Fabricants, a global association set up to fight counterfeiting.
这一问题使人们对日本政府履行其承诺产生怀疑，并致使各制造商要求日本政府制定新规定打击假冒产品。2002年，日本政府保证使该国成为一个“知识产权国家”。
The problem has called into question the Japanese government’s commitment to a pledge in 2002 to make the country a “nation of intellectual property” and has prompted demands from manufacturers for new rules to crack down on fake goods.
2006年1月19日 星期四
美元汇率为何与赤字背离
The Belgian chocolate theory of the dollar
一年前，大多数分析师都同意：美元兑欧元与其它主要货币只会下跌。美国已无法支撑其巨额经常账户赤字，美元需要大幅贬值。一年后，事实证明这些分析师都错了。美元兑欧元上升了近15%。出了什么问题？我说一个有关比利时巧克力的故事来回答这个问题。
A year ago, most analysts agreed: the dollar could only go down against the euro and the other main currencies. The huge US current account deficits had become unsustainable and called for a big decline of the dollar. A year later these analysts proved to be wrong. The dollar went up by close to 15 per cent against the euro. What went wrong? Let me answer the question by telling a story about Belgian chocolates.
几周前，布鲁塞尔食品展上进行了一个有趣的实验。在这个一年一度的食品展上，摊位里摆满了各种你能想到的美食，而美食爱好者则在许多摊位之间来回穿梭。其中一间搭好的摊位在销售盒装比利时巧克力。第一天，巧克力的售价定在每盒9欧元，生意不错。第二天，价格上涨到了每盒15欧元。假如你饱读经济理论，可能会认为需求现在会下降了。错。需求翻番了。第3天，价格降至每盒2欧元，对巧克力的需求一落千丈。需求法则出了什么问题？
A few weeks ago an interesting experiment was undertaken at the Brussels food fair, a yearly affair where food lovers wander around among the many stalls stuffed with all imaginable delicacies. A shop was put up selling boxes of Belgian chocolates. The first day the price was set at ?9 for each box. Sales went well. The next day the price was raised to ?15 per box. Steeped in economic theory, you might think that demand now declined. Wrong. Demand doubled. On the third day the price was lowered to ?2 for each box. Demand for chocolates collapsed. What went wrong with the law of demand?
心理学家对此给出了解释。消费者即便有可能，也很难在店里仅凭巧克力的外表来判断它们的质量。当消费者对事物的内在价值如此不确定时，就会用他们了解的、简单的经验法则。心理学家称之为“探索法”。在上面的例子里，巧克力的价格就是经验法则。
The explanation is given by psychologists. It is very difficult, if not impossible, for the consumer to find out the quality of chocolates by just looking at their appearance in the shop. When confronted with such uncertainty about the intrinsic value of things, consumers use simple rules of thumb that they understand. Psychologists call these “heuristics”. In this case, the price of the chocolates provides the rule of thumb.
大多消费者都有某些经验，会让他们把高价格与高品质联系起来。事情并非总是如此，但一般而言可能如此。因此，当看到每盒售价15欧元的巧克力时，消费者推断这个高价反映了高质量，然后就买下了巧克力。当看到每盒标价2欧元的巧克力时，消费者推断这些巧克力的质量不能让人放心，所以他们没有去买。需求法则完全颠倒了。
Most consumers have some experience that allows them to associate high price with high quality. It is not always like that, but on average it probably is. Thus when looking at the ?15 box the consumers infer that the high price reflects high quality and they buy the chocolates. Consumers who see the boxes priced at ?2 infer that the quality of these chocolates is not to be trusted, and they do not buy them. The law of demand is turned upside down.
现在让我们来看看美元。大部分在外汇市场进行交易的人，对美元的基本价值(美元的“质量”)没什么头绪。专家和教授们也不知道，至少在美元兑欧元的大区间里是如此，比如在1.0美元到1.3美元之间。每当有专家告诉我们，美元对欧元的基本价值接近1.3美元，总会有另一个专家断言，基本价值接近1.0美元。而两者间的任何数字都会有人选择。面对这样的不确定性，美元与欧元的交易商都无法得知确切情况，因此，他们就会使用他们所了解的简单指导——经验法则。美元的市场价格就是这样的经验法则。当美元出于某个技术原因上涨(或偶然上涨)时，不断上涨的美元就是给人们的信号，说明必然有某种隐藏的经济力量在推动美元。所以他们买进美元，就像比利时巧克力的爱好者在高价时买巧克力一样。相反，当美元出于这样那样的原因走低时，人们把美元的下跌解读为反映了美元的基本弱势，因此他们抛售美元。
Let us now return to the dollar. Most people dealing in the foreign exchange market have no clue about the fundamental value of the dollar (the “quality” of the dollar). Specialists and professors do not know either, at least within a broad range of dollar-euro rates between say, $1.0 and $1.3. For every specialist telling us that the fundamental value of the dollar is close to $1.3 to the euro there will be another one affirming that $1.0 is near the fundamental value. Anything in between is fair game. Faced with such uncertainty, traders in dollars and euros have no way of knowing. They will therefore use a rule of thumb, an easy guide that they understand. The market price of the dollar provides such a rule of thumb. Thus when the dollar goes up for some technical reason, or just by chance, the increasing dollar is a signal for people that there must be some hidden economic strength driving the dollar. And they buy dollars; like the Belgian chocolate lovers buy chocolates when they are highly priced. Conversely, when the dollar moves down for whatever reason, people interpret the decline of the dollar as reflecting a fundamental weakness of the dollar, and they sell dollars.
作为这一机制的结果，美元在上下限越来越大的区间里浮动，这是我们对美元的基本价值缺乏了解所造成的。这些浮动可能是由影响美元基本价值的变量(比如经常账户)变化造成的，也可能不是。
As a result of this mechanism, the dollar moves up and down within upper and lower bounds that are determined by our lack of knowledge of the fundamental value of the currency. These movements may or may not be caused by changes in the variables (such as the current account) that influence the fundamental value of the dollar.
但比利时巧克力和美元之间也有不同之处。高价购买巧克力的比利时巧克力爱好者，可以马上尝一口巧克力以检验品质。而美元买家却不行，但他需要证明，他买得很好，于是分析师就派上用场了。
There is a difference, though, between Belgian chocolates and the dollar. The Belgian chocolate lover buying high-priced chocolates can immediately check the quality by tasting the chocolates. The buyer of dollars cannot. But he is in need of a justification of his buy as a good one. And here the analyst comes in handy.
对于美元的基本价值，分析师并不比毫无戒心的买家了解得更多，所以他们就编故事。因此，当美元上涨时，分析师就去寻找走向正确的变量，以及可以和美元上涨联系在一起的变量，并谨慎地从分析中去掉所有走向错误的其它基本变量。所以我们被告知，去年美元的强势是由于利差有利于美元。在上一次的分析中，进一步扩大的经常账户赤字是关注的中心，而在新的分析中却被小心翼翼地剔除掉了。
The analyst, who does not know more about the fundamental value of the dollar than the unsuspecting buyer, invents stories. Thus when the dollar goes up, the analyst goes on a search for variables that move in the right direction and that can be linked to the rising dollar, carefully eliminating from the analysis all the other fundamental variables that move in the wrong direction. And so we are told that the strength of the dollar last year was due to interest rate differentials favouring the dollar. The further widening of the current account deficit, which in a previous analysis got centre stage, is carefully dropped from the new analysis.
我们的确不知道去年美元为何上涨的真相，但我们就是不想承认我们不知道。我们打心眼里痛恨茫然无知。那就是分析师的服务不断有需求的原因。他们满足了人们了解真相的心理需要。如今，每当美元上涨或下跌，汇率经济学就会编一个新故事以满足这种需求。
The honest story of why the dollar increased last year is that we simply do not know. But we do not like to admit that we do not know. Our psyche abhors the darkness of ignorance. That is why analysts’ services continue to be demanded. They fulfil a psychological need to understand. Exchange rate economics these days satisfies this need by telling a new story each time the dollar goes up or down.
关于新的一年，它给我们的启示是什么？你现在可能推断说，这个专栏的怀疑论调，没给我留下多少空间来说些有用的东西。然而我确实认为，美国日益增长的经常账户赤字和债务的累积力量将是无法抵抗的，它会拖低美元，但别问我是什么时候。
What does that tell us about the coming year? You may now be concluding that the sceptical tone of this column does not leave me much scope to say something useful. Yet I do think that the cumulated force of increasing US current account deficits and debts will be overwhelming, bringing down the dollar. But do not ask me when this will happen.
作者是比利时鲁汶大学(University of Leuven)经济学教授。
The writer is professor of economics at the University of Leuven
这些公司宣称，“平行进口”管理制度松懈，对“个人使用”的进口假冒商品态度宽松，对网上销售商管制不力，导致它们每年遭受巨大损失。平行进口是指未获得所有者版权或商标授权的商品进口。
The companies claim the big annual losses arise from lax regulations for “parallel imports” – goods imported without authorisation from the proprietor of the copyrights or trademarks – a lenient attitude towards the import of fakes for “personal use” and an inability to police online sellers.
在日本，进口“个人使用”假冒商品是合法的，这带来了一个“骡子”网络，即在个人使用的幌子下将假冒商品运进国内。大多数假冒商品来自中国或韩国。
In Japan it is legal to import fake goods as long as they are for “personal use”, a system that has created a network of “mules” carrying counterfeit goods into the country under the pretence that they are for their own use. Most of the counterfeit goods come from China or South Korea.
网络服务提供商也没有法律义务删除涉嫌售假的销售商在拍卖网站上发布的商品，大部分网络服务提供商从网上销售额中收取佣金。
Internet service providers, most of which receive a commission for online sales, are also under no legal obligation to remove items posted on auction sites by suspected sellers of counterfeits.
杜布瓦先生还表示，对仿冒品销售商的罚款不够高，不足以形成威慑。
And Mr Dubois said fines for sellers of fake goods were not high enough to be a deterrent.
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