明代公共資本市場的興滅：以兩淮鹽引為中心

A public capital market in the Ming dynasty: the case of the Lianghuai salt ticket

任何經濟體系﹐無論是否屬於資本主義﹐都必然句備一套容許資本流動的機制。相對於土地與勞動力而言﹐資本的重要性至少也是同樣不能忽略的。但是。迄今為止﹐史學界對於明清社會經濟的研究﹐似乎偏重於生產制度﹑產量﹑生產技術﹑產品市場等層面﹐而忽略了資本市場的發展。換言之﹐是研究明清「資本主義」而忽略「資本」本身。本文認為﹐明代鹽政制度中的「鹽引」﹐伴隨著外國白銀的輸入﹐無意中形成了一個公共資本市場﹔而明代政府在處理其鹽政危機時﹐又無意中摧毀了這一公共資本市場。這個橫跨十六﹑十七世紀的複雜過程﹐對於中國社會經濟日後的發展﹐影響重大。 Financial instrument, or medium that enables the movement of capital, is a sine qua non in any economy, capitalistic or not. However, hitherto studies on Ming-Qing socio-economic history tend to focus more on issues like production, trade, consumption, population, etc., and much less on issues related to capital formation and circulation. This paper shows that, beginning from the sixteenth century, the Ming salt ticket [yanyin] came to be used as a note of public debt and a lively speculative market for it was created. This capital market, unintentionally created by the Ming government since early sixteenth century, was also unintentionally abolished by the Ming government in 1617. This paper explores the rise, evolution and fall of this unique capital market and assesses its impact on the development of Chinese economy.

Financial instrument, or medium that enables the movement of capital, is a sine qua non in any economy, capitalistic or not. However, hitherto studies on Ming-Qing socio-economic history tend to focus more on issues like production, trade, consumption, population, etc., and much less on issues related to capital formation and circulation. This paper shows that, beginning from the sixteenth century, the Ming salt ticket [yanyin] came to be used as a note of public debt and a lively speculative market for it was created. This capital market, unintentionally created by the Ming government since early sixteenth century, was also unintentionally abolished by the Ming government in 1617. This paper explores the rise, evolution and fall of this unique capital market and assesses its impact on the development of Chinese economy.