【英语生活】死后的公平问题

Dear Economist:

My son has two children and my daughter four. I propose to give £5,000 to each grandchild in my will. Would this be equitable, given that £20,000 would go to my daughter's side of the family and only £10,000 to my son's?
Mr Robinson

Dear Mr Robinson,

Let me be frank: at first glance I thought your dilemma was idiotic. If you want to hand out equal shares, that's fine – but make your mind up. Given your daughter's fecundity and some basic arithmetic it is quite clear that you cannot simultaneously give equal shares to grandchildren and to children.

Why, then, would you hand out £5,000 to each grandchild and still fret about fairness between your children? Your children don't get the money; your grandchildren do. Similarly, it would make no sense to hand out £15,000 to each child and then start worrying that your grandchildren had been unequally treated.

Yet arch-rationalists such as Gary Becker or Robert Barro might leap to your defence. Assume your children are Becker-Barro altruists. This means that they care not about how much cash they give, but about the total sum their children receive from all sources.

If you give your grandchildren £5,000 each, that is simply £5,000 that their parents don't have to give. They will adjust their bequests in the light of yours. Viewed in this way, your attempts to give money to your grandchildren are really hidden transfers to your children – and you would be quite right to worry that your daughter was getting more than your son.

But before you pat yourself on the back (Becker has a Nobel prize; Barro may get one too), ask yourself if your children are Becker-Barro altruists. Most people focus narrowly on their bequests, not on the total receipts of their offspring. I doubt your children are Becker-Barro altruists. After all, you aren't.

亲爱的经济学家：

我的儿子有两个孩子，而我的女儿有4个孩子。我在遗嘱里提出给孙辈每人5000英镑。这样我女儿一家将得到2万英镑，而我儿子一家仅获得1万英镑，这公平吗？

罗宾逊(Robinson)

亲爱的罗宾逊：

坦率地说，乍一看，我认为你的问题有些愚蠢。如果你希望公平分配，这种做法就不错——但要下定决心。考虑到你女儿孩子多，做一些基本的算术，你就会清楚的发现，你不可能同时在孙辈和子女之间进行公平的分配。

那么，你为何在给孙辈每人5000英镑后，仍对子女之间的公平问题感到烦恼呢？你的子女没有得到钱，得到钱的是你的孙辈。同样，如果你给每个子女1.5万英镑，然后开始担心孙辈没有得到公平对待，这也是毫无意义的。

不过，加里•贝克(Gary Becker)或罗伯特•巴罗(Robert Barro)等极端理性主义者可能会站出来为你辩护。假设你的子女都是贝克-巴罗式的利他主义者，这意味着他们关心的不是自己赠予多少钱，而是他们的孩子能够从各种来源获得的总额。

如果你给自己的孙辈每人5000英镑，他们的父母不必赠予这笔钱。他们将根据你的赠予调整自己的遗产分配。从这点来看，你给孙辈的钱实际上会隐性转移到你的子女身上，这样一来，你担心女儿得到的比儿子多就相当合理了。

但在你洋洋自得之前（贝克是诺贝尔奖(Nobel prize)获得者，巴罗也可能会得到这样一个奖），先问一下自己，你的子女们是否都是贝克-巴罗式的利他主义者。多数人只会狭隘的关心自己得到的遗产，而不是后代能够得到的遗产总额。我对你的子女是否是贝克-巴罗式的利他主义者感到怀疑。毕竟，你自己不是。

译者/君悦