The Book of Peace records all the means used by the state to enrich Qiang Bing, regulate the market, and restrain business and help agriculture from Emperor Gaozu to Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty.
Due to the low level of industrial manufacturing in Han Dynasty, the transportation capacity was backward. The coins left over from the Qin Dynasty are very heavy and inconvenient to circulate. In order to save costs, the Han Dynasty allowed private coins to be minted, so that the state saved the investment of manpower and financial resources in minting coins.
The coins cast in the Qin Dynasty were particularly heavy, and the money produced was almost equal to the face value, so counterfeiters were unprofitable. At the same time, privately minted Qin coins are strictly prohibited. After Emperor Gaozu established the Han Dynasty, in order to facilitate the currency circulation, he changed the former 12 baht into baht money, and at the same time let go of the authority to coin coins, so that people could also coin coins themselves, and the market suddenly became active.
Originally, it was a good policy, but the opportunistic nature of businessmen made money flood into the market in large quantities, resulting in a decline in the real purchasing power of money, that is, depreciation. In fact, the real reason is the result of market regulation. Because the policy is profitable, they will try their best to get the maximum benefit. But at that time, there was no such statement and theoretical support as economics, and people just didn't understand it.
The bottom-up automatic adjustment of the market will drive more people to engage in the manufacture of money, because the cost of casting money is far lower than its circulation value, thus generating profits. On land, people who used to be engaged in agriculture have joined the mining industry and entered the coinage industry.
If there are fewer people engaged in land production, there will be a shortage of supply in the market, and smart businessmen or people with high vigilance will find that hoarding can make a profit, leading to soaring market prices.
From high-impedance Liu Bang to Wendi and Jingdi, the mainstream culture of the imperial court advocates frugality, and it is frugal and simple from the imperial court to the local government. The court even issued an injunction to curb the extravagant behavior of businessmen. In order to increase the national fiscal revenue, the Han dynasty also liberalized the price tag of official titles when the tax burden was reduced; If you want to avoid corvee, you can also donate money to make up for it, and even criminals who have committed crimes can pay food to make amends.
For more than 70 years from the beginning of the Han Dynasty to the time before Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there was no war in the country, and there was no major flood and drought disaster. The people have plenty of food and clothing, which is the result of the country's recuperation.
By the time of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the granary of the imperial court was full of old grain, and the money in the national treasury piled up like a mountain. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who had a grand plan, easily launched this war. Since then, Pandora's box has been reopened, and the man-eating demon has returned to the world.
Because of the war, the wealth on one side of the country is stretched, while the businessmen on the other side are extremely rich and extravagant, and ordinary people don't even have enough to eat. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty thought of many ways and employed many talents to manage finance and agriculture. Basically, the state and the people compete for profits, so the improvement is not obvious. As soon as the market is released, it will live, and as soon as it is closed, it will die, and the court's financial income has not improved significantly; Every time the economic laws and regulations change, the poor and farmers suffer in the end; In fact, businessmen are not affected much, because they have commodities in circulation and market fluctuations can make profits.
Because there are loopholes in the policy, the country is vast, the transportation is underdeveloped and the regional differences are great, which provides convenience for businessmen to make profits. This kind of behavior is actually bottom-up, which is automatically produced by market behavior. Therefore, if the top-down policies formulated by the state do not match the market, obvious benefits may be seen in the short term, but it is difficult to have long-term effects.
In this case, only one person can appear and the problem can be solved satisfactorily. This man is Sang Hongyang. In the words of modern economics, this person should be a master who knows the economic laws very well.
Because the Han Dynasty can spend money to donate officials to buy officials, and many wealthy businessmen donate officials to be officials, there have been many officials and businessmen doing business separately, competing with each other, or colluding to drive up prices and profit from them. At the same time, the transportation cost is extremely high, and the property turned over to the central government in some parts of China is not even enough to cover the transportation cost.
In view of this situation, Sang Hongyang came up with a good way, that is, the stable price method.
Every county has salt and iron officials at or above the county level, and the annual tribute or tribute collected by various places is converted into local native products, which are transported to other areas that need these items at expensive prices when merchants buy them, and then turned into cash and turned over to the state treasury.
At the same time, a leveling officer is set up in the capital to receive goods shipped from all over the country, and the freight is paid by the state. Such goods are thrown out to adjust the market price when the market is expensive, so as not to let the price rise too high; When the market price is low, the state buys in large quantities to prevent the price from falling too low and avoid the phenomenon that low prices hurt farmers. Think about it, is this method still in use today?
With the implementation of this economic policy accepted by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the ways for businessmen to make huge profits gradually decreased, and many businessmen returned to agricultural production and became farmers again. Because of the implementation of this policy, many businessmen's opportunities for personal gain were blocked, so many nobles or businessmen in the Han Dynasty hated Sang Hongyang's guts. One year, there was a disaster early in the morning. Someone actually said that Sang Hongyang was going to be cooked, so it was going to rain, because he ordered officials to do business in the market, which was immoral and angry.
In fact, Sang Hongyang's leveling policy is in line with market rules. This kind of behavior is the least intervention of the state in the market, mainly to let the state means play a regulatory role. It allows different counties to exchange needed goods when exporting grain through official transportation channels without prior state intervention or administrative adjustment, because the invisible hand of the market has been adjusting. In grain-deficient counties, food prices will naturally be high; A group with more food will naturally take the initiative to transport food there to make money, which may be the earliest recorded market adjustment.
Sima Qian disapproved of Sang Hongyang's leveling policy, because he also thought that being an official and doing business was not a good thing. In fact, the policies of the imperial court really enriched the treasury of the Han Dynasty. Sima Qian believes that people should rely on benevolence, righteousness, propriety and righteousness to restrain selfishness and seek advantages and avoid disadvantages. But he doesn't understand the concept of market, which can't blame him, because the concept of economics also appears in modern science.
In fact, although Sima Qian didn't agree with or like Sang Hongyang, in today's society, many countries have been using his leveling strategy economically, such as grain reserve policy, foreign exchange policy, agricultural subsidies and so on. From this perspective, as far as economic theory is concerned, human history has not made much progress. ...