中国古代专卖制度的演变与政府调控职能的转型——以盐专卖为中心的分析

The Evolution of Monopoly System and Transition of Government's Regulation and Control Function in Ancient China

以盐、铁、茶为代表的专卖制度集中体现了传统社会国家经济的特点。从农业、手工业与商业分工发展起来以家庭小农户生产为基础的传统社会在面对社会兼并、弃农经商及贫富分化差距过大和稳固农业基础地位等社会挑战中逐渐提出了包括专卖政策在内的涉及经济社会发展的调控政策。专卖制度的产生及其发展,是传统专制政府干预和调节经济社会的重大措施,是国家意志的集中体现,也是国家对社会经济干预、调节和充当大商人这两个重要角色的藕合。在两千多年的历史发展中,专卖制度一直在不断地调整之中,从直接专卖到间接专卖,从官府独利到官商共利,整个传统社会专卖制度的变化以及兴废就成为政府与市场力量博弈的焦点。尽管专卖制度也有严重影响商品经济发展以致国家经济社会发展的负面作用,但政府也通过控制高利暴利行业有效地增加了国家财政收入,增强国家国力,保证了国家安全。

The monopoly system represented by salt, iron and tea embodies the economic features of the traditional county. Facing many social challenges such as social merge, leaving farm work behind to engage in trade, wide gap between the rich and the poor, stabilizing the position of agriculture, the traditional society, developed from agriculture, handicraft industry and commercial division of labor, based on the production of family small famers, puts forward regulation policies related with the development of economic and society including monopoly system. The generation and development of monopoly system is the significant measure of a traditional autocratic government to intervene and regulate economic society, the focus reflection of national willpower, the integration of two roles of a county as a big merchant and social economy regulator. In the past two thousand years, the monopoly system was always in regulation, from the direct way to the indirect way, from the benefits occupied by government to shared by government and merchants. The change and rise and fall of monopoly system become the focus of the game between government and market. Even though the monopoly system infected the development of commodity economy so seriously that negative effects show, the government increased state revenue, strengthened national power and guaranteed national security by the control of lucrative industry.