On November 8 2016, Narendra Modi, the prime minister of India, announced that the Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes (worth about $7.50 and $15 respectively) would be demonetised with immediate¹ effect. This act cancelled 86 per cent of the value of cash in circulation. Moreover, the cancelled notes had to be deposited in banks by December 30 with restrictions² on withdrawals³.

2016年11月8日，印度总理纳伦德拉?莫迪(Narendra Modi)宣布，将立即废除面额为500卢比和1000卢比的纸币（分别约合7.5美元和15美元）。此举导致流通中现金减少了86%。此外，被废纸币必须在12月30日之前存入银行，并且取款受到限制。

In its boldness, this move by the democratically elected leader of so vast a country makes everything that US President Donald Trump⁵ has done so far look trivial. Should one regard it as a decisive action in India’s war against tax evasion⁶, the black economy and pervasive⁷ corruption⁸? Or is it a damagingly arbitrary act by an illiberal⁹ democrat⁴? Today, it seems a bit of both. In the long run, it depends on what happens next.

如此庞大国家的民选领袖此举之大胆，让美国总统唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)迄今所做的一切显得微不足道。我们应把此举视为印度打击逃税、黑色经济和猖獗腐败的斗争中的一次果断行动吗？还是应把它视为一位偏执的民主人士非常独断的做法？现在看来，两者都有点像。从长期来看，结论要取决于未来的事态发展。

For a politically and economically stable country suddenly to impose so unexpected and radical¹⁰ demonetisation is unprecedented¹¹. Why would any elected government inflict¹² such a shock, particularly since India’s economy is so dependent on transactions in cash? As a lower-middle-income country, India still contains a huge number of people who are outside the formal financial system. Moreover, India is also relatively¹³ cash-dependent even for such a country: one estimate is that cash still accounts for 78 per cent of consumer payments.

一个政治和经济稳定的国家，突然采取如此意外、激进的废钞之举，是前所未有的。一个民选政府为何要造成如此的冲击——特别是考虑到印度的经济如此依赖现金交易？作为一个中低收入国家，印度仍有巨量人口处于正规金融体系之外。此外，即使在印度这样一个国家，其对现金的依赖程度也相对较高——据估算，目前现金支付仍占总体消费支付量的78%。