The Changes On The Industrial And Commercial Institution And The Development Of The Privately Owned Industrial And Commercial Enterprises In Western Han Dynasty

Making industry and commerce run by the government in Emperor Wudi period of the Han Dynasty as demarcation line, the development of the privately owned industrial and commercial enterprises in Western Han Dynasty went through two stages including the earlier stage and middle and later periods. The characteristics of the two stages are very different. In the previous stage, the privately owned industrial and commercial enterprises developed rapidly. However, it declined rapidly in middle and later periods, contrasting sharply with free and active developing in earlier stage. The basic reason appearing in this kind of phenomenon lies in the changes on the industrial and commercial institution in Western Han Dynasty. The purpose of this paper is to use the institutional change theory of new institutional economics to discuss the relation between the industrial and commercial institutional changes and the development of the privately owned industrial and commercial enterprises in Western Han Dynasty expecting that there is a brand-new understanding to this historical course. In the course of concrete research, I try to apply comprehensively to the relevant disciplines such as history, economics, archaeology, etc. and accomplish the combination between economic theory and economic history hard, which may make my research move forward one tier.The paper fall into four following parts mainly:The first part is the introduction to survey the theories used in the paper and illustrate the institutional change theory is in the suitability in the paper.The second part of the paper is to explain the relation between industrial and commercial institutional changes and the development of privately owned industrial and commercial enterprises during the earlier stage of Western Han Dynasty. Firstly, the contents of industrial and commercial institutional changes are introduced during the earlier stage of Western Han Dynasty, which is the policy "governing by doing nothing that goes against nature" generally and allowed little limitation in industrial and commercial field. Secondly, I explain the reasons of industrial and commercial institutional changes in earlier stage of Western Han Dynasty, and think that it is thebasic reason of previous institutional changes of Western Han Dynasty to guarantee country's security and safeguard the ruling of feudalism. Meanwhile, as the members of institutional changes, namely" elementary action group", the monarchs and his subjects who believe in the theories of Huang Ti and Laozi promote the institutional changes during the early years of Han Dynasty. Moreover, the paper summarizes the results of industrial and commercial institutional changes in the earlier stage of Western Han Dynasty, especially explain its great promotion to the privately owned industrial and commercial enterprises. The industrial and commercial development during the early years of Han Dynasty shows in four aspects: The types are so abundant nearly as to spread all over all trades at that time; No matter from the technological level of production, or marketing methods, the previous privately owned industrial and commercial enterprises all reached more high-level in the Western Han Dynasty, and they are very strong competitors to the industries and commerce run by the government to a certain extent; Speaking from the scale, in earlier stage of Western Han Dynasty, there are big privately owned industrial and commercial enterprises that could compare perfectly with the industries and commerce run by the government while there are small workshops and retail shops which spread all over all parts; The number of people engaging in the industry and commerce increases. Finally, the paper discusses the basic reason why the previous privately owned industrial and commercial enterprises in Western Han Dynasty developed rapidly again is the property right change during the early years of Han Dynasty (shifting one part of state-run property rights to individuals.) The third part of the paper explains the relation between the industrial an...