费雪货币论述与清代北京虚数钱计物价

Irving Fisher's Writings on Money and Imaginary Prices in the Qing Dynasty's Beijing

清代北京流通的钱币主要有制钱、当十钱和当十铜元。这三种不同钱币流通的时间分别为1644年—1856年、1853年—1907年、1901年—1935年。如何将历史文献中的钱计物价折合成当时流通钱币的文数并非易事,其原因是清代北京的钱计物价有虚实之分。北京的虚数物价具有以下的特征:第一,当制钱流通时,1文制钱作虚数2文,虚数1吊钱等于500文制钱;第二,咸丰七年至光绪三十一年,1枚当十钱作虚数20文,虚数1吊钱等于50枚当十钱;第三,光绪三十一年后,1枚当十铜元文作虚数100文,虚数1吊钱折合10枚当十铜元;第四,文献中虚数与实数的出现毫无规律可言。与以往的研究不同,运用费雪的货币论述可证明清代北京物价虚数的产生与演变,很可能是朝廷决策的经济后果。

In the Qing Dynasty,three types of coins circulated in Beijing:copper coins from 1644 to 1856,face value 10 copper coins from 1853 to 1907 and face value 10 machine made coins from 1901 to 1935.Because of the existence of imaginary prices,it was often difficult to convert a given price to the unique number of coins.Imaginary prices had the following characteristics:(1) from 1644 to 1857,imaginary price of 1 000corresponds to 500 copper coins;(2) from 1857 to 1907,imaginary price of 1 000 corresponds to 50 face value 10 copper coins;(3) from 1908 to 1935,imaginary price of 1 000 corresponds to 10 face value 10machine made coins;(4) occurrences of imaginary prices in historical records seem to be random.In this article,relying on Irving Fisher' s monetary analysis,the author shows that the emergence and the evolution of imaginary prices in Beijing can be explained as economic consequences of the Government's decisions.