盐引·公债·资本市场：以十五、十六世纪两淮盐政为中心

Salt Coupons,Public Bonds and the Capital Market:with a Focus on the Lianghuai Salt Policy in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries

在明朝盐政"开中法"制度下,商人应政府邀请,运送粮食,换取盐引,凭盐引支取、运送食盐至指定地点销售。一方面,从15世纪开始到16世纪初,两淮盐政开中法从漫无预算、个别执行,逐步演变为盐引分类、开中定额,再演变为通盘规划、预先开中。情形一如政府发行公债。另一方面,16世纪初"余盐银"制度的设立,使白银进入开中法,盐引成为炒卖对象,盐商也分化为边商、内商两大集团。就这样,明朝两淮盐政制度不自觉地发展出以盐引为中心的公共资本市场制度。

In the Ming Dynasty,under the Kaizhong Law on salt administration,at the invitation of the government,merchants transported grain to the frontier in exchange for salt coupons,then bought salt with the coupons and transported it to designated places for sale.In the course of its development from the fifteenth to the early sixteenth century,the Kaizhong Law in the Lianghuai region gradually evolved from an unplanned individual activity into one with differentiated coupons and Kaizhong quotas,and thence into a comprehensively planned system something like government bonds.Furthermore,in the early sixteenth century,with the collection of an extra salt tax(yuyanyin余盐银),salt coupons became an object of speculation and the salt merchants divided into two groups,a border group and an interior group.In this way,the Ming dynasty salt policy in the Lianghuai area automatically created a public capital market system centering on salt coupons.