(The Economist November 12th 2005)
Book review: The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth
By Benjamin M. Friedman

46. Why the rich must get richer

46-1-196
Debates about economic growth usually turn on the tension between material benefits and moral drawbacks. Rising living standards are fine in themselves, but the endless quest for them tends to be morally compromisingor so goes a commonly expressed point of view.
Anti-globalists and other critics of capitalism press the point hard, but even proponents of growth often cast the issue this way. Growth is worth having, especially in the developing countries, where poverty kills people, but in the rich world, the case is less clear. After a certain point, the pursuit of more wealth may be futile and morally enervating, especially if it burdens other people and future generations. There is more to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness than a faster car and an iPod nano.
Benjamin Friedman, a professor of economics at Harvard University, would doubtless agree with much of thisbut not with the recurring contrast that is drawn between material benefits and moral costs. 'The Moral Consequences of Economic Growth' is a thorough, historically detailed, accessible exploration of an argument that was made (as Mr Friedman points out) by Adam Smith in the 18th century, and subsequently neglected. A society experiencing economic growth is likely to be happier and more successful than another that is not, even if the no-growth society has achieved a higher (stagnant) standard of living. In Smith's world, it is 'in the progressive state, while the society is advancing to the further acquisition, rather than when it has acquired its full complement of riches, that the condition of the great body of the people seems to be the happiest and the most comfortable. It is hard in the stationary, and miserable in the declining state.'

A. 어휘
debate 토론. turn on ...에 열중하다. tension 긴장. benefit 이익, 혜택.
drawback 결점, 장애, 불리. quest 추구, 탐구.
morally compromising 도덕적으로 타협하는(타락하는).
compromising 위태롭게 하다, 양보하다, 타협하다. anti-globalist 반세계주의자.
critic 酷評(혹평)하는 사람, 비평가. press 강조하다. proponent 제안자, 지지자.
issue 논쟁, 논쟁점, 문제.
cast the issue this way. 그 문제를 이런 식으로(부정적으로) 다룬다.
after certain point 어떤 수준에 도달한 후에는. pursuit 추구. futile 무익한, 쓸데없는.
enervate 기력을 빼앗다. burden 짐을 지우다. recur 다시 일어나다, 재발하다.
contrast 대조. consequence 결과. thorough 철저한. accessible 접근하기 쉬운.
exploration 탐험, 탐구. subsequently 뒤에, 그 결과로서.
neglect 소홀히 하다, 내버려두다. has achieved 이미 성취하다(현재완료 :결과).
stagnant [액체, 공기] 고여 있는, 불경기의. acquisition 取得(취득), 획득.
acquire 획득하다. complement 全量(전량), 필요한 것 전부, 보충. riches 富(부).
stationary 정지한, 움직이지 않는, 정체하고 있는. miserable 비참한.
declining 쇠퇴하는. state 상태.

B. 구문
- it is ' in the progressive state . . . in the declining state.
[대부분의 국민의 정신상태가 가장 행복하고 가장 안락하게 되는 것은 사회가 충분한 양의 富를 획득하였을 때보다는 富의 획득을 향해서 나아가면서 사회가 발전하는 상태에 있을 때이다. 정지된 상태에서는 마음이 고달프고 쇠퇴하는 상태에서는 비참해진다.]

46-2-197
Mr Friedman argues that conventional thinking about economic growth is too narrow: it neglects its moral and political benefits. 'The value of a rising standard of living lies not just in the concrete improvements it brings to how individuals live but in how it shapes the social, political and ultimately the moral character of a people.' Growing prosperity, history suggests, makes people more tolerant, more willing to settle disputes peacefully, more inclined to favour democracy. Stagnation and economic decline are associated with intolerance, ethnic strife and dictatorship.
It is not obvious that this should be true, so why has this tended in practice to happen? Mr Friedman's explanation is that people's sense of well-being is essentially relative. They become accustomed to any fixed standard of living, rich or poor. They are happiest if they feel their standard of living is rising (something that, in principle, all members of a society can experience at once), or if they feel that they are better off than their peers( which is divisive and not an aspiration that everyone can realise at once).
The key thing is the way these two standards of comparisonthe potentially harmonious and the socially self-defeatinginteract. If people are becoming better off relative to their own past standard of living, they will care less about where they stand in relation to others. If they are not growing better off relative to their own past standard of living, they will care more about their placing in relation to othersand the result is frustration, intolerance and social friction. Growth, in short, has moral as well as material benefits.

A. 어휘
conventional 전통적인, 관습적인. concrete 구체적인. improvement 개선.
ultimately 궁극적으로. prosperity 번영. tolerant 관대한. settle 해결하다. dispute 분쟁.
incline ...할 생각이 있는, ...의 경향이 있는. favour ...을 편애하다.
stagnation 停滯(정체), 불경기. decline 쇠퇴. intolerance 도량이 좁음.
ethnic 人種(인종)의. strife 紛爭(분쟁). dictatorship 독재. obvious 명백한.
tend ...경향이 있다.
in practice 실제로. essentially 본질적으로. relative 상대적인.
be accustomed to ...에 익숙해지다. fixed 고정된. better off 보다 잘 살다.
at once 동시에. peer 동료.divisive 구분하는, 불화가 생기는.
aspiration 渴望(갈망), 열망. realise 실현하다. potentially 잠재적으로.
self-defeating 자기 좌절의, 자멸적인. interact 相互作用(상호작용)하다.
relative to ...에 비례하여, ...에 비해. placing 순위. frustration 挫折(좌절).
friction 마찰, 불화. benefit 이익.

B. 구문
- the value of a rising standard . . . moral character of a people.
[상승하는 생활수준의 가치는 그것이 개인의 생활에 가져오는 구체적인 개선에만 있는 것이 아니고 그것이 국민의 사회적 정치적 그리고 궁극적으로 도덕적 성격을 형성하는 방법(형태)에도 있다.]
- which is divisive . . . realise at once.
[그것(그들이 그들의 동료보다 더 잘 산다고 느끼는 것)은 일치하기가 어렵고(사람마다 느낌이 다르고) 모든 사람이 동시에 실현할 수도 없는 갈망이다.]
- the way these two standards . . .interact.
cf. the+형용사→ 추상명사:
ex. the harmonious→ harmony
[비교의 이 두 기준잠재적으로 조화로운 것과 사회적으로 불가피하게 좌절적인 것이 상호 작용하는 형태]