美国殖民地财政管理与菲律宾金汇兑本位制的建立

Colonial Financial Administration and the Establishment of Gold-Exchange Standard in the Philippines

1903年菲律宾金汇兑本位制的建立是美国金融势力进入亚洲的开端。学界通常认为,美国在菲律宾建立金汇兑本位制是用现代的金本位制替代了落后的亚洲白银本位制。事实上,银本位制在菲律宾长期流行是由于它符合马尼拉商业群体的诉求。美国殖民政府在菲律宾推行金本位制是为了实现财政收支平衡。因为在银本位制下,金银比价波动让财政平衡很难实现。因此,在殖民财政管理的利益需求下,殖民政府将菲律宾比索与金本位美元的汇率固定下来,确立了金汇兑本位制。这使菲律宾脱离亚洲白银货币区,成为宗主国的经济附庸,导致本土商业群体利益受损。

The establishment of the Philippine gold exchange standard in 1903 marked the entry of American financial system into Asia.Previous researches thought the replacement of backward Asia silver standard by modern gold-exchange standard meant the modernization of Philippine financial system.But the fact was not that simple,the prevalence of silver-standard in the Philippines represented the need of local merchants while the gold-exchange standard showed the demand of American colonial financial management.The American colonial government set this standard in order to keep financial balance of the government since the fluctuation of exchange rate between silver and gold made this balance hard to reach.Therefore,the colonial government set fixed exchange rate between silver and gold-standard dollars,which separated the Philippines from Asian silver currency bloc,and made it a vassal of U.S.economy.