在市场经济中，一个能够调控买卖双方关系甚至调控生产资源分配的重要因素就是：     Price 价格。

    在这一讲中，我们就跟您谈谈价格和它的功能。

    价格可以说是一种能把买方和卖方联系在一起的机制。任何货物或服务都必须制定出买卖双方都能认可和接受的价格，才能保证现代的市场顺利运行。

    澳大利亚墨尔本莫纳什大学经济系主任福塞斯教授对价格做了这样的解释：

    We sometimes think of prices as being the equilibrating mechanism¹, to use an economist's jargon². We can all understand a situation whereby if prices are too high people go away, they'll just leave the market place. They won't be interested in buying.

    Likewise if prices are too low, the sellers won't be prepared to sell. They'll simply take their prduce home.

    And so prices adjust in markets so that we can get to a situation when people are reasonably satisfied and, essentially³, what the sellers want to sell is more or less what the buyers want to buy in terms of quantity.

    And so there is an equilibrium⁴ in the market.

    Prices become the lever through which the quantities that people want to sell are equal to the quantities that people want to buy.[

    福塞斯教授提到了这样几个英文词汇：

    1 equilibrating mechanism 平衡机制2 equilibrium 平衡，均衡3 jargon 行话4 adjust 调节，调整5 lever 杠杆，手段6 quantity 数量，总量

    下面我们再分段听一下福塞斯教授讲话的原文及中文翻译：（英文略）

    福塞斯教授说，我们有时把价格看作是一种平衡机制，这是经济学家的行话。我们都知道在价格过高的情况下买主就会离开市场，对购买不感兴趣。

    同样，如果价格过低，卖主也不会出售，只会把货物带回家。
 因此价格在市场上进行调节，达到各方都能基本上满意的程度。而且最重要的是使卖方希望出售的货物量与买方希望购买的货物量大致上相等。这样市场的供求就达到了平衡。

    价格成为杠杆，通过它的调节，人们要出售的货物量等同于人们要购买的货物量。

    下面我们再听一遍澳大利亚墨尔本莫纳什大学经济系主任福塞斯教授谈话全文。（略）

    澳大利亚消费与竞争事务委员会主席阿兰费尔斯对价格的功能作了进一步的解释：

    The role of the prices in the economy is several-fold. At the crudest level, prices provide an incentive⁵ for production. The higher the price, the more that people who produce will swing in to an industry and try and produce.

    Prices also ration⁶ demand. That is, consumers would have unlimited⁷ demand for certain products if they're given away free. But if they are charged for them in accordance with the cost of making them, then that will ration demand and bring demand and production into an appropriate balance. So that's the first two roles of prices.

    But prices also have a signalling function. That is they send a signal to producers that it's better for them to produce x where x has a high price, than y, where y has a low price and is not valued very highly by consumers.

    Prices generally play an incentive role. They give incentives⁸ to producers to produce or not produce, depending on their level. They give incentives to consumers whether or not to consume particular goods.

    费尔斯在他的谈话中使用了这样一些词汇：

    1 several-fold 多方面的，成倍的2 incentive 刺激，鼓励3 swing 转向，改变4 ration 约束，定量供应5 signalling 传递信息

    下面我们分段听一遍澳大利亚消费与竞争事务委员会主席费尔斯的谈话以及中文翻译：（英文略）
   价格在经济中有多重作用。从最基本的层次来说，价格刺激生产。价格越高，投入这一行业进行生产的人就越多。

    同时价格也能限制需求。这就是说，如果某些产品是免费供应，消费者的需求就可能是无限制的。但如果消费者需要按照产品的成本付出费用，就会使需求受到控制，使需求和产品供应形成恰当的平衡。这是价格的头两种功能。

    价格还有传递信息的功能。它们向生产者送出信息，说明生产甲种产品会比生产乙种产品更好，因为甲种产品的价格高，而乙种产品的价格低，不大受消费者的重视。

    价格总的来说是一种刺激物。根据价格本身的水平，它鼓励生产者生产或不生产某种产品，它也鼓励消费者消费或不消费某些货物。