The Australian economist, Joshua Gans, recently described a problem central to the current financial turmoil. How could he persuade his young son not to wet his pants?
澳大利亚经济学家乔舒亚•甘斯(Joshua Gans)最近谈到了当前金融危机的一个核心问题。他如何才能说服自己年幼的儿子不尿裤子？
Believing in the power of incentives, Mr Gans offered a reward if his son could keep his pants dry for seven nights. The boy simply removed his pants. The prohibition was on wetting pants, not on wetting the bed. Young Gans was learning a skill that would equip him well to be a British MP, or a senior executive in a global bank.
甘斯对激励的力量深信不疑，他告诉儿子，只要连续7个晚上不尿裤子，就能得到奖赏。于是孩子干脆脱了裤子睡觉。禁令说的是不尿裤子，而不是不尿床。小甘斯正在掌握的这种技巧，足以让他日后胜任英国议员、或全球性银行高管的职位。
Many MPs need second homes to perform their duties. Such rules were not intended to allow less honourable members to build a property portfolio by charging the taxpayer to refurbish a succession of second homes. These members argued that what they did was consistent with the rules.
许多议员需要第二居所来履行职责。这种规定的初衷，并不是让品格有欠高尚的议员花费纳税人的钱，来修葺一套又一套第二居所，从而给自己攒下一堆房产。但这些议员辩称，他们的所作所为符合规定。
The Basel banking principles attached varying capital requirements to different types of assets. But it was easy to rearrange how assets were categorised, even as the underlying risks remained the same.
巴塞尔(Basel)银行业准则为不同资产类别设定了多种资本金要求。但对资产进行重新分类并非难事，即便潜在风险并未改变。