能不能讓市場順其自然

The concepts of calm and serenity loom large in Chinese culture. That includes its stock market regulators, who are taking steps to support the domestic A-share market during the National People’s Congress.

中國文化講究靜氣和定力。身處這種文化之中的中國股市監管者，正採取措施在全國人大(NPC)會議期間支撐國內A股市場。

Bloomberg reports that large mutual funds are banned from making net sales of stock, while state-backed investors are poised to step in should the market drop. The move recalls a 2015 measure to prevent big shareholders from selling stock.

彭博社(Bloomberg)報道稱，大型共同基金被禁止淨賣出股票，而國有背景的投資者已準備好在股市下跌時出手託市。此舉讓人想起2015年中國禁止大股東賣出股票的舉措。

That was in response to a market rout, whereas the latest move is precautionary window-dressing ahead of a sensitive political event. Both are part of a broader support operation. A “national team” buys shares when needed. New flotations — the state influences both the timing and the pricing of these — are often engineered to produce large first-day gains. Companies have wide latitude to suspend their own shares.

彼時的舉措是爲了應對市場暴跌，而最近的舉措是在敏感的政治事件之前預防性烘托氣氛。兩者都是更廣泛的支撐行動的一部分。“國家隊”在有需要時購入股票。新上市的股票（新股發行的時間和定價都受到國家影響）經常被操作爲在上市首日大漲。公司有很大的自由將自己的股票停牌。

A stock market in which the state is both promoter and regulator is unlikely to be particularly investable. Capital controls were the main reason that A-shares were denied entry to MSCI’s emerging markets index last year. But the extent of political involvement in the stock market cannot have been helpful either.

國家既是支持者又是監管者的股市，不太可能特別值得投資。去年，中國A股被MSCI明晟新興市場指數拒絕納入的主要原因是資本管制。但政治因素對股市的滲透肯定也是原因之一。

Still, western critics of such crude manipulation no longer have the moral high ground. Many countries arbitrarily banned short selling during market gyrations. Listing Snap shares with zero voting rights has hardly been a great advert for the US IPO process. The UK has conjured a house price bubble to make voters feel richer. The US allowed a speculative frenzy in asset markets and then socialised the resulting losses.

然而，批評這種直白操縱行爲的西方人士不再佔據道德高地。很多國家曾在市場波動期間粗暴禁止賣空。Snap發行不具投票權的股票，幾乎很難算得上美國首次公開發行(IPO)流程的什麼好廣告。英國變戲法似地製造出一個房價泡沫，讓選民們感覺自己變得更富有。美國放任資本市場的投機狂潮，然後讓全社會共擔由此導致的損失。

From Washington to Tokyo, central banks and governments have used the state’s money-creating power to depress the prices of safe assets and inflate those of riskier ones, generally enriching the already well-off in the process. Those living in glass houses should be wary of throwing stones, even at obvious targets.

從美國到日本，央行和政府一直利用國家發行貨幣的權力，打壓安全資產的價格並推高風險較高的資產的價格，在此過程中讓那些原本就富有的人普遍變得更加富有。烏鴉別笑豬黑，哪怕豬真的很黑。