再论法国大革命的财政起源

Rethinking the Financial Origins of the French Revolution

旧制度末期的财政危机是法国大革命的导火索。通常认为的税负过重和借贷过多似乎不是问题的关键。税收体制固有的缺陷限制了政府从增长的经济体中汲取资源的能力,无法为法国的公共信贷提供良性的支撑。普遍税的推行对免税特权的冲击,引发激烈的政治论争,影响到18世纪下半叶法国的舆论环境。历次的债务违约导致路易十六时期借贷利率居高不下,财政赤字难以消解。政府试图进行理性化的制度改革,但是君主制的内在矛盾,加之公共舆论对其行动能力的约束,使旧制度末期的财政困境陷于无解。从税收体制、公共信贷和君主政治的交互作用所构建的社会经济和政治文化语境中,可以更深入地理解大革命的财政起源。

The financial crisis at the end of the Old Regime was the direct trigger of the French Revolution.The excessive tax burden and excessive borrowing as "common wisdoms"do not seem to be the keys to the problem.The inherent flaws of the tax system limited the ability of the government to extract resources from growing economies, which could not provide a good support for French public credit The impact of the implementation of universal tax on tax exemption privilege triggered drastic political debate,which then affected the French public opinion context in the second half of the eighteenth century.Previous debt defaults led to high interest rates of borrowing during the reign of Louis XVI,which was one of the main reasons why the fiscal deficits could not be resolved.The government pursued the rationalized institutional reforms,but the inherent contradictions of the monarchy,combined with the public opinion's constraint on the government^s acting ability,made the financial dilemma of the end of the Old Regime unsolvable.From the soeio-economic and political-cultural contexts constructed by the interaction of tax system,public credit and monarchial politics,the financial origins of the French Revolution can be understood more deeply.