经济学人下载:向东方学习做官吧！

This attention to detail has paid off. Many of the graduates have to compete with cheap migrant workers, especially in service jobs, but most of them are snapped up quickly. The hairdressers and beauty therapists are off to the new casinos, or “integrated resorts”, as they are prudishly known. Singapore, already near the top of most educational league tables, has created yet another centre of excellence that is beginning to attract foreign visitors.

这种细致严谨的态度已收成效。很多毕业生需要与廉价的移民劳动力竞争，特别是在服务业这一行。但他们中的绝大部分一毕业就被抢聘一空。理发师和美容师去了新开张的赌场，或者是“综合性的度假胜地”，这样一个含蓄的名称。新加坡，在绝大多数教育排名已名列前茅，又创造了新的不菲成就，也开始吸引外国人来参观。

Singapore is important to any study of government just now, both in the West and in Asia. That is partly because it does some things very well, in much the same way that some Scandinavian countries excel in certain fields. But it is also because there is an emerging theory about a superior Asian model of government, put forward by both despairing Western businesspeople and hubristic Asian chroniclers. Simplified somewhat, it comes in four parts.

无论是东方还是西方，新加坡对于想研究政府管理的来说都十分重要。部分原因是它在某些事情上做得非常好，同在某些领域领先的北欧国家方法差不多。但还有原因就是现在出现了一个由绝望中的西方商界人士和高傲的亚洲历史学家共同提出的理论，认为亚洲政府管理模式较为优越。简而言之，此理论分为四部分。

First, Singapore is good at government (which is largely true). Second, the secret of its success lies in an Asian mixture of authoritarian values and state-directed capitalism (largely myth). Third, China is trying to copy Singapore (certainly true). Last, China’s government is already more efficient than the decadent West (mostly rubbish, see next section).

第一、新加坡擅长政府管理（这没什么可非议的）。第二、成功的秘密在于一种将权力主义的价值观同国家主导的资本主义相融合的亚洲模式（这差不多是神话）。第三、中国正在努力模仿新加坡模式（这当然是真的）。第四、中国政府的效率已经超过堕落的西方国家了（这差不多就是湖说八道，见下一节）

Fact or fiction?真相还是小说？
For all the insults hurled at “Disneyland with the death penalty” (to use William Gibson’s gibe), Singapore provides better schools and hospitals and safer streets than most Western countries—and all with a state that consumes only 19% of GDP. Yes, that proportion is understated because it does not include the other fingers the government has in the economic pie, such as its huge landholdings, the Central Provident Fund (a mandatory savings scheme) and Temasek (a government-linked investment company). Yes, it is easier to serve 5m people on a tiny island than 309m Americans on a vast landmass. Yes, it has relied on immigration, which is now creating strains (and will be the main topic in the next election). And yes, Singapore’s bureaucrats can make mistakes, such as letting an Islamic terrorist escape in 2008. But its government does pretty well.

对于向这座“有着死刑的迪士尼公园”（借用威廉·吉布森的比喻）泼的所有脏水，新加坡展现的是比大多数西方国家更加优秀的学校和医院，更为安全的街道，而且这一切都只消耗了国内生产总值的19%。是的，这一比例是有少报，因为它没有包括政府在整个经济蛋糕里染指的其他部分，比如说其庞大的地产、中央公积金（一个法定体制）和淡马锡（一家与政府有关联的投资公司）。是的，相比于为一片广袤大陆上的3亿9百万美国人服务，让5百万的小岛居民满意是较容易的。是的，新加坡依赖于移民，但移民现也造成了压力（还会成为下届选举的中心话题）。是的，新加坡的官员们也是会犯错的，比如在2008让一名伊斯兰恐怖分子逃脱。但是其政府还是运转得十分不错。

The Chinese are fascinated by it. “There is good social order in Singapore,” Deng Xiaoping observed in 1992. “We should draw from their experience, and do even better than them.” It sends streams of bureaucrats to visit Singapore. One of the first things that Xi Jinping did after being anointed in 2010 as China’s next leader was to drop in (again) on Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s minister-mentor, who ran the island from 1959 to 1990, and his son, Lee Hsien Loong, who has been prime minister since 2004. The Chinese are looking at other places, too—most obviously Hong Kong, another small-government haven. But it is hard to think of any rich-country leader whom China treats with as much respect as the older Mr Lee.

中国人十分着迷于新加坡政府。“新加坡的社会秩序算是好的，”邓小平曾在1992年这样评论。“（他们管得严，）我们应当借鉴他们的经验，而且比他们管得更好。”中国派了一批批的官员去新加坡学习。在习近平2010年被选定为中国的下一位领导人后，他做的头几件事中有一件就是（再次）拜访了李光耀，新加坡1959至1990年总理，现内阁资政，和他的儿子李显龙，新加坡自2004年起的第三任总理。中国人也羡慕其他一些地方——最明显的就是香港，另一个港口小政府。但很难相信有另外任何一个富国领导人受到了中国之于李光耀般的尊敬。