菲律宾华商网络中“头家制度”的经济学探析(1834—1942)

An Economic Analysis of “the Cabecilla System” in the Chinese Business Network in the Philippines(1834-1942)

论文借助“博弈论”工具,结合案例分析,探讨了自1834年马尼拉开港到1942年二战菲律宾沦陷期间,“头家制度”的形成及其稳定性。研究显示,“头家制度”是建立在血缘、地缘以及华商之间信任和利益关系基础上的,其与西方基于契约基础上的信用有着本质的区别。在“头家制度”中,通过委托各地的代理商,头家一方面获得了用以出口的产品,另一方面又将进口商品通过代理商顺利地销售到菲律宾各地,不仅解决了货物流通问题,而且有效降低了交易成本。“头家制度”与华商网络之间的良性互动,最终实现了菲律宾华商杰出的商业成就。由于菲律宾华商非常注重信用和长期利益,他们之间的商业联系牢固而稳定,这不仅有效降低了华商之间的交易成本,提高了商业活动的效率,而且最终形成了一个由马尼拉向菲律宾各地辐射的菲律宾华商网络。

Within the voluminous research on the history of the Chinese in the Philippines,“the Cabecilla System”is often mentioned.Differing from the western credit system based on legal contracts,the“Cabecilla System”provides credits and allows an operation of Chinese business networking primarily through people’s linkages and home origins.Applying a Game theory model,this paper focuses on analyzing the formation and stability of the“Cabecilla System”,which not only effectively reduced the costs of business transactions,but also improved their efficiency.The“Cabecilla System”enabled Chinese businesses to expand from Manila to deeply penetrate into inland cities,and to achieve great successes in the Philippines.