经济学人下载:澳大利亚的未来,下一个黄金州

A flash in the pan?
昙花一现？

Australians must now decide what sort of country they want their children to live in. They can enjoy their prosperity, squander what they do not consume and wait to see what the future brings; or they can actively set about creating the sort of society that other nations envy and want to emulate. California, for many people still the state of the future, may hold some lessons. Its history also includes a gold rush, an energy boom and the development of a thriving farm sector. It went on to reap the economic benefits of an excellent higher-education system and the knowledge industries this spawned. If Australia is to fulfil its promise, it too will have to unlock the full potential of its citizens’ brain power.

澳大利亚人现在必须考虑将来让他们的孩子生活在一个什么样的国家。他们可以坐享其成、坐吃山空、听天由命；也可以着手创造出其他国家羡慕、乐于效仿的那种社会类型。对许多人而言依然意味着国家未来的加利福尼亚，或许能够提供一些经验教训。它的历史同样包括淘金热、能源热潮、农业部门的欣欣向荣。由于出色的高等教育体系和其孵化的知识产业，澳大利亚继续收获经济利益。如果澳大利亚打算实现其未来，那么它同样必须放开对其公民智慧潜能的限制。

Australia cannot, of course, do exactly what California did (eg, create an aerospace industry and send the bill to the Pentagon). Nor would it want to: thanks to its addiction to ballot initiatives, Californian politics is a mess. But it could do more to develop the sort of open, dynamic and creative society that California has epitomised, drawing waves of energetic immigrants not just from other parts of America but from all over the world. Such societies, the ones in which young and enterprising people want to live, cannot be conjured up overnight by a single agent, least of all by government. They are created by the alchemy of artists, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, civic institutions and governments coming together in the right combination at the right moment. And for Australia, economically strong as never before, this is surely such a moment.

当然，澳大利亚不可能对加利福尼亚亦步亦趋（比方说，创造航空工业，然后把账单送到五角大楼）。澳大利亚也不想如此：这多亏其对投票公投的热衷，加利福尼亚的政治简直是一团糟。不过，在发展出加利福尼亚代表的那种开放的、活力十足的、有创造力的社会方面，澳大利亚还有许多功课要做。加利福尼亚不仅从美国其他地区，而且从世界各地吸收充满活力的移民。年轻人和有进取心的人想要生活其中的社会，不可能由单一的代理机构——尤其是政府——一夜之间就像变戏法式地给变出来。这种社会是由艺术家、企业家、慈善家、民间机构、政府的炼金术在合适的时间、正确的组合中同时出现而创造出来的。对澳大利亚而言，经济实力从未如此强大，现在正恰当其时。

Watch our video-guide to Australia's past, present and future, or listen to an interview with the author of this Special Report
观看我们关于澳大利亚过去、现在和未来的视频指南，或者，听一听对这篇专业报道作者的访谈

What then is needed to get the alchemy going? Though government should not seek to direct the chemistry, it should create the conditions for it. That means ensuring that the economy remains open, flexible and resilient, capable, in other words, of getting through harder times when the boom is over (a sovereign-wealth fund would help). It means maintaining a high rate of immigration (which started to fall two years ago). It means, above all, fostering a sense of self-confidence among the people at large to bring about the mix of civic pride, philanthropy and financial investment that so often underpins the success of places like California.

那么，开动这种炼金术需要什么呢？尽管政府不应当寻求直接指导这一化学过程，它应当为其创造条件。这意味着保证经济的继续开放、灵活而富有弹性、包容性，换句话说，当发展期结束之时，还能度过困难时期。（主权财富基金将有一定帮助）这意味着维持高的移民率（两年前开始下滑）。最重要的是，还意味着在那些带来国民骄傲、慈善、金融投资的人当中培养一种普遍的自信。支撑像加利福利亚这样地方成功的，常常就是这种自信。