翻译硕士考研者，在暑期阶段需要看双语阅读文章，来提升阅读水平和翻译能力。下面，北京文都考研网为助力翻译硕士学子们在备考上一臂之力，整理了MTI双语阅读精选:意大利药店价格机制，供考生参考。
2020考研MTI双语阅读精选:意大利药店价格机制
THAT COMPETITION keeps prices down is well known. But it is hard to measure by just how much, because prices vary for all sorts of reasons, from differences in labour costs and rents to taxes. Rising to the challenge is a new paper in The Economic Journal by Giacomo Calzolari, Andrea Ichino, Francesco Manaresi and Viki Nellas, economists at the European University Institute, Bologna University and the Italian central bank. They looked at pharmacies and specifically at customers who may be particularly easy to rip off: new parents.
竞争会让价格下降，这是众所周知的事。不过，出于一些原因，价格因劳动力成本和租金及税收的差异而有所不同，因此难以衡量能降多少。欧洲大学学院、博洛尼亚大学和意大利央行的经济学家贾科莫•卡尔佐拉里、安德烈亚•伊奇诺、弗朗西斯科•马纳雷西和维基•内拉斯在《经济杂志》上刊发了一篇新论文，对此问题提出了新方法。他们研究了药店和特定消费者——那些特别容易被骗的人：新晋父母。
Using data for 2007 to 2010 covering about a fifth of pharmacies in Italy, the researchers measured the way in which prices of hygiene products for babies changed as the number of babies varied. They took advantage of a peculiar law from the 1960s, according to which municipalities with at most 7,500 people are allowed just one pharmacy (supposedly to keep the quality of services high). They compared prices in places with populations just below this threshold, and just above.
这几位研究人员用2007年至2010年间对意大利约五分之一的药店的调查数据，测算了婴儿卫生用品价格与婴儿数量之间的变化。他们利用了20世纪60年代的一项特殊法律——根据该法律，拥有最多7500人的市政当局只能拥有一家药房(据称以此保持高质量的服务)。他们将人口低于这一阈值和略高于这一阈值的地区的价格进行比较。
The products studied included some 3,000 varieties of shampoos, bath foams, baby wipes, creams and so on. Many are also used by adults on themselves. Some people, for example, prefer sun-cream labelled “for children” because of its high level of protection. When raising prices for these products, even a pharmacist with a monopoly must consider the risk that adult users will switch to products that are not aimed at children. But a rise in the number of babies, and hence in the fraction of buyers who are parents, could tip the scales towards price increases. By contrast, the pharmacist should already be charging as much as parents are willing to pay for products without adult users, such as nappies.
研究的婴儿用品包括洗发香波、沐浴泡沫、婴儿湿巾、乳霜等，约有3000种。许多产品成年人自己也会使用。比如说,一些人喜欢用带有“孩子专用”防晒霜——这种防晒霜防晒保护指数更高。当这些产品要提价时，即使某个药店处于垄断地位，也得考虑提价之后可能面临的风险状况，即一些成人消费者用户会转而去买非孩子专用的产品。不过，随着新生儿的数量增多，父母消费者数量也会相应增多，这就促进了产品价格上涨的规模。相比之下，药店尽可能涨价的产品是孩子父母愿给孩子买的，而不是成年人会买的。
The scholars found that pharmacists raised prices when there were more new parents—but only in municipalities with a single pharmacy, and not for nappies. In monopoly areas a doubling of the number of babies from one month to the next (not unusual in a small population) coincided with a 5% increase in the price of the basket of baby-hygiene products.
上述学者发现，新晋父母的数量增加时，药店会提价——但这只在只有一家药店的城市里出现，而且不只是尿不湿会涨价。在垄断性的地区，在两个月里，新生婴儿数量成倍增长(在人口少的地区，这种情况很常见)，婴儿卫生用品的价格会相应增长5%。
The study is timely. Italy’s government has started to loosen some of the many restrictions that stifle competition in the pharmacy sector (though not yet the one that the researchers relied on). But such regulations are plentiful in many other lines of business, and not just in Italy. The consumers who pay the price are often those who find it hardest to travel to shop around—for example, people with crying babies on their hands.
这项研究很及时。意大利政府开始着手放宽对药品领域的一些竞争限制(不过不只是研究人员进行研究的领域)。但是，这些监管措施在其他行业领域有效果了，而不仅仅只在意大利。不讲价的消费者通常是没办法货比三家的人——比如说，那些抱着正在哭泣的孩子的人。
以上是北京文都考研网给出的“2020考研MTI双语阅读精选:意大利药店价格机制”，希望对翻译硕士考生有所帮助!祝2020考研金榜题名!
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