交易成本、合约弹性与明清徽州的定额地租

Transaction Costs,Contract Flexibility and Huizhou's Fixed-Rent during Ming and Qing Dynasties

本文主要从交易成本视角分析农业中的租佃合约安排,并基于此对明清徽州地区定额地租居于主导地位的历史进行解释。大量的史料表明,农业租佃关系中存在大量威廉姆森意义上的交易成本。不同的租佃合约安排具有降低交易成本的作用,然而,没有一种租佃合约具有绝对的优势。我们区分了合约安排和合约条件,从而区分了两种降低交易成本的合约调整途径:在既定的合约安排下,改变合约条件;或者,在保持合约条件不变时,改变合约安排。由此,本文把明清徽州地区定额地租居于主导解释为丰富的合约条件可以保证定额地租的有效性。

This paper analyzes agricultural tenancy contracts from the perspec- tive of transaction costs theory,based on which the overwhelming position of fixed rent in Huizhou during Ming and Qing dynasties is explained.Fruitful evidences show that there are plenty Williamsonian transaction costs.Different tenancy con- tract arrangements can reduce transaction costs,while no contract shows absolute advantage on reducing transaction costs.Contract arrangements and conditions are distinguished to give two kinds of contract adjustments to reduce transaction costs: change contract arrangements given contract conditions,or change contract condi- tions given contract arrangements.Thus,the explanation of Huizhou's fixed rent contract,according to our analysis,is the flexibility of contract conditions which keep the efficiency of fixed rent.