委托代理视域下的明清永佃制度初探

Permanent Tenancy System in Ming and Qing Dynasties From the Principal-Agent Perspective

明清时期,永佃制盛行于我国江南地区。这种特殊的土地产权制度分离出了土地双重所有权,即田皮权和田骨权。本文利用委托代理理论对永佃制度的产权结构进行分析,得出“当佃农作为代理人,其拥有了田皮权后,在最优的激励合同约束下是效率最优的”结论,即永佃制度对地主和佃农双方都提供了有效的激励机制,促进了当时农业经济的发展,在一定程度上推动了地权分配的平均化。

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,the permanent tenancy system prevailed in Jiangnan area of China.This special land property right system separated the dual ownership of land,namely land skin right and land bone right.This paper analyzes the property right structure of the permanent tenancy system by using the principal-agent theory,and maintains that "when the tenant had the land ownership as an agent and after he hads the land skin right,the efficiency was the best under the constraints of the optimal incentive contract".That is,the permanent tenancy system provided effective incentives for landlords and tenant farmers,improved the development of agricultural economy,and promoted the equalization of land right distribution to some extent.