Capitalism has improved the lives of billions of people — something that's easy to forget at a time of great economic uncertainty. But it has left out billions more. They have great needs, but they can't express those needs in ways that matter to markets. So they are stuck in poverty, suffer from preventable diseases and never have a chance to make the most of their lives. Governments and nonprofit groups have an irreplaceable role in helping them, but it will take too long if they try to do it alone. It is mainly corporations that have the skills to make technological innovations work for the poor. To make the most of those skills, we need a more cre-ative capitalism: an attempt to stretch the reach of market forces so that more companies can benefit from doing work that makes more people better off. We need new ways to bring far more people into the system — capitalism — that has done so much good in the world.

資本主義改善數十億人的生活，在經濟極端動盪不安之際，這點很容易為人遺忘。但資本主義還是未能澤被數十億人，他們一貧如洗，但他們無力以足以影響市場的方式表達他們的需求。因此，他們困在貧窮中，飽受可以預防的疾病折磨，也從來沒有機會善加利用他們的生命。政府和非營利組織責無旁貸，應扮演幫助他們的角色，但單靠它們曠日費時。主要是企業有技術推動科技創新造福窮人。要把那些技術最大化，我們需要更有創意的資本主義：試圖延伸市場力量的觸角，使更多企業可以因改善人民的生活而受惠。我們需要新的方法，把更多人引進這套資本主義制度中，畢竟它已造福世上無數人。

There's much still to be done, but the good news is that creative capitalism is already with us. Some corporations have identified brand-new markets a-mong the poor for life-changing technologies like cell phones. Others have seen how they can do good and do well at the same time. To take a re-al-world example, a few years ago I was sitting in a bar with Bono, and frankly, I thought he was a little nuts. It was late, we'd had a few drinks, and Bono was all fired up over a scheme to get companies to help tackle global poverty and disease. He kept di-aling the private numbers of top executives and thrusting his cell phone at me to hear their sleepy yet enthusiastic replies. As crazy as it seemed that night, Bono's persistence soon gave birth to the RED campaign. Today companies like Gap, Hall-mark and Dell sell RED-branded products and do-nate a portion of their profits to fight AIDS.

目前仍有很多未竟之業，好消息是創意資本義已在進行中。有些公司為窮人打開全新的市場，進行手機等改造生活的科技。其他企業則看出它們可以同時行善和賺錢。舉個真實世界的例子吧。幾年前，我和波諾一起坐在一家酒吧。說實話，我認為波諾是個小傻蛋。當時已經很晚了，幾杯酒下肚，波諾突然激發出一套計畫，要讓企業界幫助解決全球貧窮和疾病問題。他不斷撥打高層主管的私密電話，再把他的手機塞給我，叫我聽他們睡意正濃但很熱心的回答。那個夜晚也許很瘋狂，但波諾的堅持，很快就為「紅色運動」催生。今天，像GAP、賀軒和戴爾出售紅色品牌產品，並捐部分利潤對抗愛滋病。

It's a great thing: the companies make a difference while adding to their bottom line, consumers get to show their support for a good cause, and — most important — lives are saved. In the past year and a half, (RED) has generated $100 million for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, helping put nearly 80,000 people in poor countries on lifesaving drugs and helping more than 1.6 million get tested for HIV. That's creative capi-talism at work.

這是很棒的事：企業起作用，並提高利潤；消費者得以表達他們對某個用意良善的運動的支持；尤其重要的是搶救了生命。過去一年半以來，紅色運動已經為「全球抗愛滋、肺結核和瘧疾基金會」募集一億美元，並協助窮國近八萬人服用救命藥方，幫助逾160萬人接受愛滋病毒篩檢。那就是把創意資本主義付諸行動。

It might seem strange to talk about creative capi-talism when we're paying more than $4 for a gallon of gas and people are having trouble paying their mortgages. There's no doubt that today's economic troubles are real; people feel them deeply, and they deserve immediate attention. Creative capitalism isn't an answer to the relatively short-term ups and downs of the economic cycle. It's a response to the longer-term fact that too many people are missing out on a historic, century-long improvement in the quality of life. In many nations, life expectancy has grown dramatically in the past 100 years. More people vote in elections, express their views and enjoy economic freedom than ever before. Even with all the problems we face today, we are at a high point of human well-being. The world is get-ting a lot better.

當美國每加侖汽油超過4美元，一般老百姓連付房貸都有困難之際，侈談創意資本主義似乎很怪。今天的經濟問題無疑是很真實的；人民感受深刻，也應該立即注意解決。但創意資本主義並非解答較短程的經濟周期起伏，而是對較長程事實的回應，太多人在長達一世紀歷史性的生活品質改善中被忽略了。在很多國家，平均壽命過去100年來大幅延長。比起過去，有更多人在選舉中投票，表達他們的觀點，享受經濟自由。即使我們今天面對種種問題，我們仍處於人類福祉的高點。世界已經大幅改善。

The problem is, it's not getting better fast enough, and it's not getting better for everyone. One billion people live on less than a dollar a day. They don't have enough nutritious food, clean water or elec-tricity. The amazing innovations that have made many lives so much better — like vaccines and mi-crochips — have largely passed them by. This is where governments and nonprofits come in to channel our caring for those who can't pay. But the improvements will happen faster and last longer if we can channel market forces, including innovation that's tailored to the needs of the poorest, to com-plement what governments and nonprofits do. We need a system that draws in innovators and busi-nesses in a far better way than we do today.

問題在不夠好也不夠快，而且不是人人受惠。有十億人每天生活費用不到一美元，他們沒有足夠的營養食物，乾淨的飲用水或電。那些改善無數人生活、令人歎為觀止的創新發明，像疫苗和微晶片，大半和他們擦身而過。這時只有靠政府和非營利團體介入，把我們的關懷輸送給那些付不起錢的人。但唯有當我們能輸送市場力量，包括依赤貧者需要量身打造的創意，來補足政府和慈善團體所作所為，改善才能加速進行，可大可久。

One study found that the poorest two-thirds of the world's population has some $5 trillion in pur-chasing power. A key reason market forces are slow to make an impact in developing countries is that we don't spend enough time studying the needs of those markets. For many years, Microsoft has used corporate philanthropy to bring technology to peo-ple who can't get it otherwise, donating more than $3 billion in cash and software to try to bridge the digital divide. One of our projects lets an entire classroom full of students use a single computer; we've developed software that lets each student use her own mouse to control a specially colored cursor so that as many as 50 kids can use one computer at the same time. This is a big advance for schools where there aren't enough computers to go around, and it serves a market we hadn't examined before.

根據一項研究，全球最窮的三分之二人口，大約有5兆美元購買力。在開發中國家，市場力量發揮影響力往往很慢，主要原因之一是我們並未花時間去研究那些市場的需求。多年來，微軟利用企業行善把科技帶給那些捨此別無他途的人，捐了逾30億美元現金和軟體想拉近數位鴻溝。我們所進行的其中一項計畫是讓整班學生使用單一一部電腦。我們開發了一種軟體，讓每個學生可以使用自己的滑鼠，控制特別顏色的游標，以便讓多達50個孩童可以同時共用一部電腦。這對那些沒有足夠電腦來充分分配的學校是一大突破，它也提供我們過去未曾研究的市場服務。

（本文作者為微軟創辦人比爾‧蓋茲）