France’s cost of living
法国民众的生活费用
Purchasing-power disparity
购买力悬殊
May 15th 2008 | PARIS
2008年05月15日 巴黎
From The Economist print edition
摘自《经济学人》印刷版
French shoppers want lower prices, but not more competition
法国消费者想要更多低价，而非更多竞争
THAT coffee or cornflakes are cheaper in a German supermarket than a French one is bad enough. That French-owned products, such as Danone yogurt, Vittel water or Riches Monts cheese, are too is an affront. A basket of identical items costs 30% more in France, says a study by La Tribune, a daily.
在德国超市销售的咖啡或玉米片都要比法国超市的更为便宜，这对法国人来说真是糟糕透顶。而法国自家企业生产的产品，例如达能酸奶，维特尔矿泉水或者 Riches Monts奶酪，在德国超市的销售价格也要远远便宜于国内超市，这实在令民众恼怒不堪。据《法国论坛报》的调研显示，同样一篮商品，在法国需要多花费 30%。
Rising fuel and food prices are worrying consumers all over Europe. Concerns about purchasing power are an especially hot issue in France. President Nicolas Sarkozy’s unpopularity owes much to his failure to boost it as he promised. Inflation, at a 17-year-high, is not the only problem. This week, he dropped in on a Yoplait yogurt factory to declare that “there is no reason why we should have the highest prices in Europe.”
在整个欧洲大陆，上涨的燃料价格和食物价格正令消费者忧心忡忡。对购买力的担忧在法国已是一个议论纷纷的问题。法国总统萨科齐不受欢迎的原因多半要归咎于 其未能兑现提高民众购买力的承诺。尽管法国的通货膨胀达到17年来的最高水平，但这并不是唯一的问题。本周，萨科齐总统在参观优诺(YOPLAIT)酸奶 制品公司时宣称：“我们不应拥有全欧洲最高的物价”。
Yet if voters want lower prices, they are less enthused by more competition. Christine Lagarde, the finance minister, is promoting a new law to inject more competition into retailing. It would make it easier to build out-of-town hypermarkets, and would scrap a rule stopping retailers from selling below cost. In many places, hypermarkets have de facto local monopolies, and so are protected from competing with each other or with the big discounters, which account for only 13% of food retailing, next to 30% in Germany. Nor can hypermarkets negotiate freely with suppliers, which retailers say allows big brand-names to impose high prices.
然而，即便选民是想要获取更为低廉的价格，但他们对商家彼此之间的竞争行为却仍不会深感兴趣。法国财政部长拉加德（Christine Lagarde）正在积极推动新法的颁布，以在零售行业注入更多的竞争活力。新法将使在郊区建立大型超市更为容易，并且撤消了零售商不得以低于成本价销售 商品的限制。大型超市事实上已处于垄断地位，进而避免了大型超市彼此间的竞争或者同折扣商店之间的竞争。事实上，折扣商店只占法国食品零售业的13%，而 德国则是将近30%。此外，大型超市还被限制同供应商自由商定价格定位，零售商表示这会使知名厂商单方强行采取高价。
So why are consumers not cheering on the new law? The Socialists say the fringes of historic towns will be destroyed. Deputies in Mr Sarkozy’s own party, lobbied by food producers and small shopkeepers, want to dilute the text. When asked by Ifop, a pollster, how best to raise their purchasing power, only 42% of respondents picked out more retail competition. Some 85% preferred a cut in the sales tax, and 72% a rise in the minimum wage. Scepticism about competition has deep roots, ranging from a lingering influence of Marxism to a fear of American capitalism trampling the French way of life. Above all, voters see competition through the eyes of producers—as a menace to jobs and factories—rather than consumers.
为何消费者对新法并不欢呼雀跃呢？社会党人表示这将会毁坏名城古镇的外围。在萨科齐总统领导的党派内，众议员受到食品生产商和小店主的游说，想要对新法的 条款加以修改。在民意测验机构Ifop就如何最好地提高民众购买力进行调查时发现，仅有42%的受访者认同更多的零售竞争行为。约有85%的受访者更倾向 要求减轻营业税，而72%的受访者要求提高最低工资标准。法国民众对竞争活动的怀疑已是根深蒂固，从马克思主义挥之不去的影响到对美国资本主义会破坏法国生活方式的恐惧。最为重要的是，选民是以生产商的眼光而非消费者的眼光来看待竞争行为，认为竞争活动会对就业岗位和工厂产生威胁。
This may explain why Ms Lagarde’s new law does not touch other regulated areas, such as pharmacies, taxis and notaries. Supermarkets are still not allowed to sell non-prescription drugs. E.Leclerc, a hypermarket giant, was recently taken to court by pharmacists for running a television advertisement claiming that it could sell household medicines a lot cheaper if it were allowed to. The court ruling against the advertisement was overturned on appeal. But the pharmacists’ monopoly remains—with Mr Sarkozy himself ruling out any change on the ground that pharmacies are not a business but a “public service”.
这也许能够解释拉加德女士的新法为何未触及受法律调控的其他领域，例如制药行业、出租车业和公证部门。目前，大型超市仍被限制出售非处方药。大型超市巨头 E.Leclerc在最近因一则电视广告被药商告上法庭。在电视广告中，E.Leclerc声称，如果公司获得法律许可，他们便可销售更为便宜的家庭药 物。尽管法庭对E.Leclerc公司的广告行为做出了不利判决，但在该公司随后的上诉中此判决被撤消。在萨科齐总统对药房是“公共服务行业”，而非商业 部门的立场尚未做出改变时，法国药商的垄断地位将会仍存。
译者：captain21 http://www.ecocn.org/forum/viewthread.php?tid=11406&extra=page%3D1