LONDON – During a 2008 discussion of the global financial crisis at the London School of Economics, Queen Elizabeth II famously floored a room full of financial heavyweights by asking, “Why did no one see it coming?” That question has been haunting economists ever since, as the recognition has slowly taken hold that, in the supposed “golden age” preceding the crisis, they were blind not only to the potential consequences of failure – but also to the true cost of “success.”
伦敦——在伦敦经济学院2008年一次针对全球金融危机的讨论中，英国女王伊丽莎白二世一句“为什么没人能预见这场灾难？”的提问难倒了满屋子的金融大鳄。这个问题此后就一直困扰着经济学家，因为在危机爆发前那个所谓的 “黄金时代”，人们已经逐渐意识到我们不仅忽略了失败可能的后果、而且也忽略了“成功”真正的代价。