明清以来江南蚕桑区叶市上的远期交易

The Future Trading of Mulberry Leaves in Jiangnan since the Ming Dynasty

明清以来江南地区湖州、嘉兴等蚕桑区叶市上的"稍叶"交易,是一种典型且成熟的远期交易。叶市交易的对象——桑叶,其新鲜程度的要求极高,供给与需求的不确定性较大,且交易时间集中而短暂,这使得叶市呈现出高风险,尤其是高价格风险的特性。远期交易方式的采用,是一种规避市场风险的制度安排,它有着一套成熟的运作机制,湖州、嘉兴等地一些市镇上叶行的营业,对于这种远期交易方式的组织和实现,起着关键性的作用。虽然有大量投机现象的存在,但总的来说,以远期交易为显著特征的江南叶市在相当长的时期内维持了较好的信用状况。江南叶市远期交易,反映了这一地区市场的成熟已达到相当高的程度,对于正确认识传统江南经济的发展状况有着重要参考价值。

The ＂Shaoye＂ trading, which existed in the mulberry leaves＇ market in Jiangnan since the Ming Dynasty, is a typical kind of mature future trading. It was of high-risk, especially the price risk, due to the natural character of mulberry leaves. The adoption of the future trading helps to elude the trading risk in mulberry leaves＇market. ＂Shaoye＂ trading had an effectively operational mechanism, in which Yehang played a key role. Although there was much speculation in it, as a whole the mulberry leaves＇ market had kept a nice credit status for a considerably long time. The future trading shows that the market in Jiangnan had grown to a high maturity. It serves as a mirror for us to acknowledge the developing situation of the economy in Jiangnan in the Ming and Qing dynasties.