Most of the really terrible economic problems that debt crises have caused occurred before policy makers took steps to spread them out. Even the biggest debt crises in history (e.g., the 1930s Great Depression) were gotten past once the right adjustments were made. From my examination of these cases, the biggest risks are not from the debts themselves but from a) the failure of policy makers to do the right things, due to a lack of knowledge and/or lack of authority, and b) the political consequences of making adjustments that hurt some people in the process of helping others. It is from a desire to help reduce these risks that I have written this study.

债务本身的问题不是最大的，而是决策者是否有认识和能力去做出正确的措施，以及这样做的政治后果给决策者带来的顾虑（比如给富人加税导致失去政权）。

I want to reiterate that 1) when debts are denominated in foreign currencies rather than one’s own currency, it is much harder for a country’s policy makers to do the sorts of things that spread out the debt problems, and 2) the fact that debt crises can be well-managed does not mean that they are not extremely costly to some people. The key to handling debt crises well lies in policy makers’ knowing how to use their levers well and having the authority that they need to do so, knowing at what rate per year the burdens will have to be spread out, and who will benefit and who will suffer and in what degree, so that the political and other consequences are acceptable.

承接上面，有认识，有能力，并清楚知道不同方案各个方面的影响是否可以接受是处理债务危机的关键。

There are four types of levers that policy makers can pull to bring debt and debt service levels down relative to the income and cash flow levels that are required to service them: 1) Austerity (i.e., spending less) 2) Debt defaults/restructurings 3) The central bank “printing money” and making purchases (or providing guarantees) 4) Transfers of money and credit from those who have more than they need to those who have less Each one of their levers has different impacts on the economy. Some are inflationary and stimulate growth (e.g., “printing money”), while others are deflationary and help reduce debt burdens (e.g., austerity and defaults). The key to creating a “beautiful deleveraging” (a reduction in debt/income ratios accompanied by acceptable inflation and growth rates, which I explain later) lies in striking the right balance between them. In this happy scenario, debt-to-income ratios decline at the same time that economic activity and financial asset prices improve, gradually bringing the nominal growth rate of incomes back above the nominal interest rate.

减少支出，债务违约和重组，央行印钱，劫富济贫（富人加税）是四种手段。有些手段是通胀的，有些事通缩的，怎样完美地去杠杆（债务收入比减少的同时通胀可控并且经济复苏）是需要平衡这几种收端的。