25.最終收入
段落大意：高回報率並不意味著高的年收入。
A high rate of pay does not ensure large annual earnings. Construction workers are paid at relatively high hourly rates, but their annual income usually is low because of the irregularity of their employment. In addition, nominal （名義的） wages do not accurately reflect real earnings. During a period of inflation the real value of wages may fall although nominal wages rise, because the cost of living rises more rapidly than monetary earnings. Deductions（扣除額） from wages for income taxes, social security taxes, pension payments, union dues （應付款）, insurance premiums （保險費）, and other charges further reduce the worker’s final earning.
26.生活成本與生活水平對工資水平的影響
段落大意：生活成本與生活水平決定著特定國家特定時期的工資水平。
The factors determining wage levels in particular countries at particular times are cost of living and standards of living. First is the cost of living. Even in poor societies, wages are usually at least sufficient to pay the cost of workers and their children. Otherwise, the working population will not reproduce itself and will decline. The other is the standards of living. Prevailing living standards influence conceptions of what constitutes a so-called living wage, thus helping to determine wage levels. Improvements in general living conditions generate moral pressures for giving laborers a share of the better life. In the presence of such pressures, employers are more inclined to grant wage increases and legislators are constrained to approve minimum-wage and other laws designed to improve workers’ conditions.
27.勞動力供應和生產率影響工資水平
段落大意：勞動力供應和生產率對工資水平的影響。
The relative supply of labor: Where labor is relatively scarce compared to capital, land, and other resources, as in the United States in the 19th century, employers’ competitive bidding （出價） for labor tends to raise the general wage level. On the other hand, as in present-day India, where the ratio of labor to other resources is high and accordingly the supply of labor greatly exceeds demand, competition among laborers for the relatively few available jobs tends to depress the wage level.
Productivity: Wages tend to rise with productivity. Productivity depends partly on the energy and skill of the labor force and more on the level of technology employed. US wage levels are high largely because American workers obtain the skills necessary for operating the most advanced industrial equipment.
28.工資水平七大影響因素 I：產品相對價值、技能獲取成本
段落大意：工資水平受七大因素影響，其中包括產品的相對價值和技能獲取成本。
The general wage level is an average of widely differing individual pay rates and earnings. The various elements contributing to wage differentiation are as follows.
Relative value of product: An industrious and skilled worker who produces a more valuable output than workers of lesser capabilities is worth more to an employer and usually is paid more.
Costs of required capabilities: Employers must pay the price of special training if they need workers who are so trained. If engineers did not receive more compensation than laborers, relatively few persons would invest the time, money, and effort required to become engineers.
29.工資水平七大影響因素 II：特定勞力的相對稀缺性、職業的相對吸引力、勞力流動性
段落大意：工資水平受七大因素影響，其中包括特定勞力的相對稀缺性、職業的相對吸引力，以及勞力流動性。
Relative scarcity of specific kinds of labor: Common labor is paid poorly because it is common, but entertainers, such as movie stars and television performers, who have qualities regarded as unique enjoy very large incomes.
Comparative attractiveness of occupations: Difficult, disagreeable, or dangerous jobs usually bring higher rates of pay than do more inviting jobs requiring less skills. Thus, a truck driver engaged in moving explosives earns more than one delivering groceries.
Mobility of labor: Where the working population is immobile, wage differentials （差別） are wide. On the other hand, the readiness of workers to change jobs or to move long distances to better-paying positions tends to narrow wage differentials among firms, occupations, and communities.
30.工資水平七大影響因素 III：討價還價能力、習俗與立法
段落大意：工資水平受七大因素影響，其中包括討價還價能力、習俗與立法。
Comparative bargaining strength: A union may lift the wages of its members above the scales paid to unorganized workers of equal skill.
Custom and legislation: Many wage differentials are rooted in custom or legislation. For example, both custom and legislation are responsible for the fact that black miners in South Africa have long earned only a fraction of the wages paid white miners doing equivalent work. On the other hand, governments and unions frequently act to eliminate wage differentials based on race, sex, and other irrelevancies （無關之物） and to standardize wages generally.
31.工資理論：生存理論
段落大意：生存理論是現代第一個工資理論，認為維持生活所需的開支是工資水平的決定性因素。
The first modern explanation of wages, the so-called subsistence （生存） theory, emphasized the consumption needed to sustain life and maintain the working population as the chief determinant （決定因素） of wage levels. The theory was adumbrated（大致描述） by mercantilist（重商主義者） economists, elaborated by the Scottish economist Adam Smith, and developed fully by the British economist David Ricardo. Ricardo argued that wages were determined by the cost of barely sustaining laborers and that wages could not long depart from the subsistence （生存） level. If earnings should fall below that level, he contended（聲稱）, the labor force would not reproduce itself. If earnings rise above it, the number of working-class children who would survive would be more than that needed to replenish （補充） the labor force, and wages again would be forced down to subsistence levels by the competition of laborers for the available jobs.
32.收入分配的概念
段落大意：收入分配指兩個不同但相關的過程：其一為社會成員間的收入及財富的分配，其二為生產元素間的價值分配。
Distribution, in economics, refers to two different, but related, processes. The first is the division among the members of society, as individuals, of the national income and wealth. The second is the apportionment （分攤） of the value of the output of goods among the factors or agents of production, namely, labor, land, capital, and management. The division or apportionment of this value takes the form of monetary payments, consisting of wages and salaries, rent, interest, and profit. Wages and salaries are paid to workers and managers; rent is paid for the use of land and for certain kinds of physical objects; interest is paid for the use of capital; and profit is realized by the owners of business enterprises as a reward for risk taking.
33.影響收入分配的因素
段落大意：影響收入分配的因素包括供求關係、壟斷組織的行為、工會，以及社會立法等。
The distribution of the national income is influenced by a number of factors in addition to the operation of supply and demand. These factors include the practice by some monopolies （壟斷組織） and cartels （聯合企業） of creating artificial scarcities and fixing prices, collective bargaining by unions and management, and social reform legislation, such as social security and minimum wage and maximum hour laws. Such factors tend to increase the income of one group or another above the level it would reach through the unimpeded （不受妨礙的） operation of the law of supply and demand. Taxation is also an important factor affecting income distribution.
34.收入不均的原因
段落大意：收入不均很大程度上取決於供求法則，擁有不同的技能也會帶來收入的不均。
Authoritative opinion mainly maintains that inequalities in income result, in great part, from the operation of the law of supply and demand. In this view, for example, an overproduction of cotton will result, through a consequent fall in the price of cotton, in a decrease in the income of cotton growers. It will also tend to result in an increase in the real income, or purchasing power, of the purchasers of cotton, who can buy more with the same amount of money. Similarly, when capital is abundant and the demand for it is low, interest rates tend to fall. As a result, the relative share of the national income of creditors tends to decrease, while the share of borrowers tends to rise. Variations in the relative share of the national income of workers are also explained in terms of the operation of the law of supply and demand. When labor is plentiful, wage rates tend to fall; when labor is scarce, as in wartime, wages tend to rise. Finally, inequalities in income among workers are explained by the relative abundance or scarcity of their skills. Skilled workers, less numerous than unskilled ones, receive higher wage rates. Workers with rare skills are paid at a higher rate than those with skills found in abundance.