「租」從何來？「租」作何解？廣東模式、尋租發展型國家與資本主義

On Rent: The Guangdong Model, Rent-Seeking Developmental State, and Capitalism

資本主義如何在地球各個角落「逐水草而居」？地球上各個不同的社會如何回應資本主義？《尋租中國：台商、廣東模式與全球資本主義》細膩地處理了中國改革開放以後的經濟發展。本文以「租」為中心，分別就「租」的條件、「租」的創造與「租」的意義和《尋租中國》切磋。在指出《尋租中國》在中國經濟發展研究與社會學技藝上的重大貢獻後，本文從資本主義在地球上的發展史的角度與《尋租中國》切磋。資本主義發展史就是一個全球擴張史，因此一定要探討資本主義與各個不同社會的互動或者連屬（articulation），如中國社會主義與資本主義的遭遇，特別是當中「社會主義的遺產」在創造「租」上所扮演的角色。由此，本文進一步從生產模式的連屬、世界觀的連屬與範疇的連屬來與《尋租中國》對話。其次，本文就「租從何處來」這個議題，提出以「剩餘價值」為中心的架構與《尋租中國》「全球價值鏈延伸」與「機構化尋租」的架構切磋。接著，本文就「租」的意義與《尋租中國》對話，並反思「意義」在因果詮釋與認識論上的角色。在這樣的基礎上，本文說明了「理論對話」的不同作法。

The book Rent-Seeking Developmental State in China highlights the Guangdong model as the prototype of Chinese economic development since 1979 under which local governments acting as institutional rent seekers patronize foreign manufacturing enterprises, taking advantage of emigrant workers discriminated against by the household register system. This paper initiates a series of dialogues on the conditions, production and meanings of “rent,” a core category of the book. This paper considers the book from the perspective of the history of the capitalism. Taking the legacy of socialism as an example of the encounter of local society with capitalism, a condition of rent-production and seeking, it then contrasts the framework of articulation studies (the articulation of modes of production, the articulation of worldviews, and the articulation of native and capitalistic categories) with that of “expansion of the value chain” and “local growth alliance” proposed by the book. Unlike the book’s emphasis on rentseeking, this paper calls attention to the production of rent itself and the multiple meanings of rent to highlight the role of meaning vis-a-vis that of institutional arrangements. It then briefly reflects on the so-called “theoretical dialogue.” This paper concludes with a discussion of the role of commitment in the production of a solid academic work.