Self-Sufficiency

It is both logical and consistent with the evidence to believe that self-sufficiency (i.e., the need and the ability to independently support oneself) is an important ingredient for individuals and societies to be successful. It is not controversial to say that people spend the money that they earn differently than the money that others give them—i.e., that the connection between earning and spending is a healthy one. If people have to earn money to spend it, they have to be more productive. Over the long run, living standards rise as a function of increases in productivity. So, it is not a big leap to presume that countries with greater amounts of self-sufficiency do better than those with less. Since self-sufficiency creates capability and independence in addition to fostering increased production, it also produces self-esteem. For these reasons, it is logical to conclude that self-reliance is rewarding, both economically and psychologically. The evidence clearly shows this to be true.

相信自我满足（即需要和独立支持自己的能力）是个人和社会取得成功的重要因素，这是合乎逻辑的和一致的。说人们花钱赚钱不同于别人给他们的钱，这是没有争议的 - 即收入与支出之间的联系是一个健康的。如果人们要赚钱去花钱，就必须更有成效。从长远来看，生活水平随着生产力的提高而上升。所以假定自给自足的国家比那些少的国家要好一些，这是不大的跳跃。由于自给自足创造能力和独立性，除了促进增加生产，它也产生自尊。由于这些原因，从经济和心理上来看，自力更生是有益的。证据清楚地表明了这一点。

Below, we show how self-sufficiency varies by country and how it has been correlated with subsequent economic growth. You will see that there are significant differences in self-sufficiency levels between countries and that these differences occur for different reasons. For example, in some cases they are chosen (e.g., the amounts of transfer payments developed economies have are largely chosen) while in other cases they are not (e.g., high self-sufficiency in the poorest societies is primarily the result of necessity rather than choice). Nonetheless, the evidence is clear. Societies in which individuals are more responsible for themselves grow more than those in which they are less responsible for themselves.

下面我们来看一下国家的自给自足如何变化，以及与后续经济增长的关系。你会看到，国家之间的自给自足水平存在显着差异，这些差异出于不同的原因。例如，在某些情况下，它们是被选择的（例如，发达经济体的转移支付金额在很大程度上被选择），而在其他情况下它们不是（例如，最贫困社会的高度自给自足主要是由必然而非选择）。尽管如此，证据是清楚的。个人对自己负责的社会比对自己负责的人更多。

To measure self-sufficiency, we weigh 50% how hard a society works and 50% the system of supports and protections, which is a function of the magnitude of government supports and how rigid labor markets are (e.g., how easy it is to hire and fire). While no one of these perfectly measures self-sufficiency, together they paint a picture that is highly indicative. Once we used the process below to construct a score, we took out the role income plays in encouraging self-sufficiency and used the resulting measure in our culture indicator. Overall our indicator of self-sufficiency is about 42% correlated to growth once you strip out the effect income has on selfsufficiency. Prior to excluding the income effect, our indicator of self-sufficiency was about 50% correlated to future growth.

衡量自给自足的情况下，我们认为社会工作的艰辛程度是50％，支持和保护制度的50％是政府支持的程度，劳动力市场的僵化程度如何（例如雇佣多么容易）和火）。虽然没有一个完全衡量自给自足，但他们一起绘制了高度指示性的图片。一旦我们使用下面的过程来构建一个分数，我们就会发现角色收入在鼓励自给自足方面发挥作用，并在文化指标中使用这一结果。总体上，我们的自给自足指标与增长关系大约是42％，一旦你脱离了收入对自给自足的影响。在排除收入影响之前，我们的自给自足指标与未来增长率大致相当于50％。

The charts below convey those countries that are most self-sufficient today. As shown, India and Singapore are measured as most self-sufficient, followed by other Asian countries and Mexico. The US is towards the middle, and European countries are the least self-sufficient. The chart below shows these ratings. Look at it to see if you are surprised and note those surprises so that you can see what they are attributable to when we show you the composition of our barometer. For example, you might find it notable that “communist” China has greater self- sufficiency than the capitalist US. This is the case in both outright terms and once you adjust for income.

下面的图表传达了今天最自给自足的国家。如图所示，印度和新加坡被认为是最自给自足的，其次是亚洲其他国家和墨西哥。美国正处于中间地位，欧洲国家是最不自给自足的。下图显示了这些评级。看看它是否感到惊讶，并注意到这些惊喜，以便在我们向您展示我们的气压计的组成时，可以看到它们归因于什么。例如，你可能会发现，“共产主义”中国比资本主义美国更具有自力更生。这是直接的方式，一旦你调整收入的情况。