20世纪前期江苏民间借贷利率与金融环境

The Interest Rates and the Financial Environments of Private Lending in the Early 20th Century in Jiangsu Province

20世纪前期,江南地区的民间借贷月息通常为2分,这些借贷非常贴近普通民众的日常生活,却被人们普遍谴责为封建的高利贷。与此同时,江苏淮河以北地区的民间借贷平均月息高于6.5分,并常达10分以上,寻常百姓甚少从钱庄、典当借到款项,这些金融机构却基本无人诟詈。事实上,由于淮北粮价往往每年在数月之内浮动4倍左右,月息10分的高利贷也显得相对"仁慈"和低廉,且多数百姓根本无钱可借。这一状况的根源在于江苏南北不同的金融环境。江南具有发达的民间金融市场,富裕阶层可以极为便捷、稳妥地将资金存入钱庄、典当等机构,享受这些机构为其理财所带来的较高利润,为其他创业者提供用款便利。淮北缺乏发达的金融市场,富裕阶层宁愿将真金白银窖藏掩埋,听任市场上商号或个人私自发行的各种劣钞流通,使有资者不愿创业,创业者却无资可用,从而造成淮北大面积、长时期的地区性经济衰退。

In the early 20th century, the monthly interest rate of private loans in the south of the Yangtze Riverwas usually 2 percent. This interest rate of private loans was very friendly to the ordinary people, but itwas generally condemned as feudal usury. At the same time, the average monthly interest rate of privateloans in the north of Huaihe River in Jiangsu was higher than 6.5 percent, often up to over 10 percent.Ordinary people rarely managed to borrow money from private banks and pawns, but these financial in-stitutions were seldom condemned. In fact, since the grain price in that area used to fluctuate about fourtimes within months each year, the usury with a monthly interest rate of 10 percent is still relatively"friendly"and reasonable, and hundreds of people have no money to lend. The root cause of this situa-tion lies in the different financial environments in the north and south of Jiangsu. In the southern regionthere was a well-developed private financial market, where the wealthy could deposit funds into privatebanks, pawns, and other institutions very conveniently and securely, enjoy relatively high profitsbrought by these institutions for their financial management, and provide convenience for other entrepre-neurs to use funds. In contrast, the north of Huaihe River lacked a developed financial market, wherethe wealthy would rather deposit their gold and silver in the cellars, allowing all kinds of inferiorbanknotes issued by companies or individuals on the market to circulate. As a result, the investors wereunwilling to start a business while the entrepreneurs had no money to borrow, leading to a large-scaleand long-term regional economic recession in the north of Huaihe River area.