在市场经济中，一个可以调控交易双方关系甚至调控生产资源分配的要紧原因就是： Price 价格。
在这一讲中，大家就跟你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块的机制。任何货物或服务都需要拟定出交易双方都能认同和同意的价格，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如此的讲解：
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.[
福塞斯教授提到了如此几个英文词语：
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，方法6 quantity 数目，总量
下面大家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，大家有时把价格看作是一种平衡机制，这是经济学家的行话。大家都了解在价格过高的状况下买主就会离开市场，对购买不有兴趣。
同样，假如价格过低，卖主也不会供应，只能把货物带回家。
因此价格在市场上进行调节，达到各方都能基本上认可的程度。而且非常重要的是使卖方期望供应的货物量与买方期望购买的货物量大致上相等。如此市场的供应求购就达到了平衡。
价格成为杠杆，通过它的调节，大家要供应的货物量等同于大家要购买的货物量。
下面大家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）
澳大利亚消费与角逐事务委员会主席阿兰费尔斯对价格的功能作了进一步的讲解：
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 cosplayt 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用了如此一些词语：
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，定量提供5 signalling 传递信息
下面大家分段听一遍澳大利亚消费与角逐事务委员会主席费尔斯的谈话与中文翻译：（英文略）
价格在经济中有多重用途。从最基本的层次来讲，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要。这就是说，假如某些商品是免费提供，买家的需要就可能是无限制的。但假如买家需要根据商品的本钱付出成本，就会使需要遭到控制，使需要和商品提供形成适合的平衡。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，说明生产甲种商品会比生产乙种商品更好，由于甲种商品的价格高，而乙种商品的价格低，不大受买家的看重。
价格总的来讲是一种刺激物。依据价格本身的水平，它鼓励生产者生产或不生产某种商品，它也鼓励买家消费或不消费某些货物。
