The job of capital marketsis to process information so that savings flow to the best projects and firms.That makes high finance sound simple; in reality it is dynamic andintoxicating. It reflects a changing world. Today’s markets, for instance, are grapplingwith a trade war and low interest rates. But it also reflects changes withinfinance, which constantly reinvents itself in a perpetual struggle to gain acompetitive edge. As our Briefing reports, the latest revolution is in fullswing. Machines are taking control of investing—not just the humdrum buying andselling of securities, but also the commanding heights of monitoring theeconomy and allocating capital.
资本市场的工作是处理信息,使储蓄流向最好的项目和公司。这使得高级金融听起来很简单;实际上,它是动态的,令人陶醉的。它反映了一个不断变化的世界。例如,如今的市场正努力应对贸易战和低利率。但它也反映了金融内部的变化,在不断的竞争中不断重塑自己,以获得竞争优势。正如我们的简报所报道的,最新的革命正在全面展开。机器正在控制投资——不仅仅是单调的证券买卖,也是监管经济和资本配置的制高点。
Funds run by computersthat follow rules set by humans account for 35% of America’s stockmarket, 60%of institutional equity assets and 60% of trading activity. Newartificial-intelligence programs are also writing their own investing rules, inways their human masters only partly understand. Industries from pizza-deliveryto Hollywood are being changed by technology, but finance is unique because itcan exert voting power over firms, redistribute wealth and cause mayhem in theeconomy.
由遵循人类规则的计算机运行的基金占美国股市的35%,机构股票资产的60%,交易活动的60%。新的人工智能程序也在以人类主人只能部分理解的方式,编写自己的投资规则。从披萨外卖到好莱坞的各个行业都在被技术所改变,但金融业是独一无二的,因为它可以对企业施加投票权,重新分配财富,并在经济中造成混乱。
The obvious fix will be unpalatable to many. The UN’s climate talks treat 193 countries as equals, providing a forum in which all are heard. But three-quarters of emissions come from just 12 economies. In some of those, including the United States, it is possible to imagine younger voters in liberal democracies demanding a political realignment on climate issues—and a new interest in getting others to join in. For a club composed of a dozen great and middling-but-mucky powers to thrash out a “minilateral” deal would leave billions excluded from questions that could shape their destiny; the participants would need new systems of trade preference and other threats and bribes to keep each other in line. But they might break the impasse, pushing enough of the world onto a steeper mitigation trajectory to benefit all—and be widely emulated.
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