近代西方经济增长和发展的关键因素——戴维·兰德斯经济史研究述评

The Keys to the Economic Growth and Development in the Modern West:A Review of David S.Landes’Studies on the Economic History

15世纪以来,为何世界最先从西欧开始出现了巨大的经济增长?经济史家戴维·兰德斯给出了他的解释。他认为,西方在近代世界正是最先具备了技术革新、企业家精神以及文化制度等促进发展的关键因素,才一路领先,凭借经济、军事、文化优势塑造了现代世界。技术变革引发工业革命,使西欧各国成为世界上占主导地位的经济参与者;技术革新的创造动力来源于西欧企业家和企业家精神;新教文化和国家体制是孕育西欧企业家和企业家精神的土壤。兰德斯的经济史研究特色偏重于历史学,其观点属于“西方中心论”,采纳了“新教伦理说”“东方专制主义”“地理环境决定论”等有争议的理论支撑其观点。兰德斯继承并拓展了亚当·斯密的经济自由主义。对其理论,要批判性地借鉴。

Why did great economic growth first appear in Western Europe since the 15th century?Economic historian David S.Landes offers his explanation.In his view,the West was the first in the modern world to possess the key factors for development such as technological innovation,entrepreneurship and cultural institutions,which led to tremendous economic growth and led all the way to shape the modern world with its economic,military and cultural advantages.Technological advance triggered the Industrial Revolution,making Western European countries the dominant economic players in the world;The power of technological innovations comes from Western European entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship whose soil is the Protestant culture and state system.Landes’economic history research is characterized by its emphasis on history.His theory belongs to“Western Centrism”and is supported by controversial theories such as“Protestant Ethic”,“Oriental Absolutism”,and“Geographical Environment Determinism”.He inherits Adam Smith’s economic liberalism and expands it.This paper argues that his theory should be used critically.