经济学人:短期借贷 原则与利率 (2)

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　　or even working with Native American tribes to claim sovereign immunity¹. 甚至与美洲土著部落一起申请主权豁免权来避开这些法律。

　　At the federal level, Congress passed the Military Lending Act in 2006, capping loan rates to service members at 36%. 2006年，在联邦一级的国会上通过了“军事贷款法”，限制对军人的贷款利率上限为 36%。。

　　More recently, the Department of Justice launched “Operation Choke Point”, an effort to press banks into severing² ties with businesses at risk of money-laundering,  最近，司法部发起了“瓶颈行动”，旨在强迫银行与有洗钱风险的公司断绝关系，

　　payday lenders among them. 薪资贷款（公司）就包括其中。

　　But the real crackdown on payday lending could come if the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (CFPB) , a watchdog, implements³ new regulations on high-interest loans. 但是，如果监管机构——消费者金融保护局（CFPB）在高利息贷款上实施新规定，对发薪日贷款真正的打击可能会到来。

　　The rules include underwriting standards and other restrictions⁴ designed to keep borrowers out of debt;  这些规则包括承保标准和其他旨在保证借款人还清债务的限制；

　　the CFPB estimates that they could reduce payday-loan volumes by more than 80%. CFPB估计可以将发薪日贷款额度减少80%以上

　　The threat of regulation may already have had an effect. 监管的威胁可能已经产生了影响。

　　The Centre for Financial Services Innovation, a non-profit group, reckons that payday-loan volumes have fallen by 18% since 2014; revenues have dropped by 30%. 非营利组织金融服务创新中心认为，自2014年以来，工资日贷款量下降了18%收入利润下降了30%。

　　During the first nine months of 2016, lenders shut more than 500 stores and total employment in the industry fell by 3,600, or 3.5%. 在2016年前九个月，关闭了500多家贷款点，该行业的就业总额下降了3600个，即下降了3.5%。

　　To avoid the new rules, lenders are shifting away from lump-sum payday loans toward instalment loans, which give borrowers more time to get back on their feet. 为了避免这个新的法规，贷款人正从一次总付发放日贷款转向分期贷款，这种类型的贷款给借款人更多的时间还清他们的贷款。

　　It would be premature⁵ to celebrate the demise⁶ of payday lenders. 庆祝发薪日贷款的消亡还为时过早。

　　The Trump⁷ administration is likely to block the CFPB's new regulations. 特朗普政府很可能阻碍消费者金融保护局的新规定。

　　And even if the rules are pushed through, consumers may not be better off. 甚至如果规则通过，消费者们并不会过得更好。

　　Academic research on payday-lending regulation is mixed, with some studies showing benefits, others showing costs, and still others finding no consumer-welfare effects at all. 关于发薪日贷款管理的学术研究观点是复杂的，一些研究显示其有益，有些则显示损害，还有一些研究没有发现对消费者福利的影响。

　　A forthcoming paper by two economists⁸ at West Point concludes that the Military Lending Act yielded “no significant benefits to service members”. 西点军校的两位经济学家即将出版的论文得出结论，“军事借贷法”对军人来说没有重大好处。

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