Speaker：Richard von Glahn (Professor , University of California, Los Angeles)
Description：In thepast two decades, increasing attention has been paid to the significance of thefiscal capacity of the premodern state in promoting or retarding economicgrowth. In particular, the economic history scholarship has stressed thepositive impact that the emergence of the “fiscal state” (drawing onSchumpeter’s concept of the tax state) had in enhancing economic growth inearly modern Europe. Comparative studies have contrasted theadministrative efficiency of the emerging European fiscal state with contemporaryAsian empires (the Ottomans, Mughals, and the Ming-Qing empires in China) toexplain the “Great Divergence” in economic performance and state formation inthe early modern period. My intervention in this discussion seeks tocontextualize the Ming-Qing state within the larger framework of Chinese stateformation over the whole arc of the imperial era. I identify four basictypes of fiscal state that have appeared in China from the Qin unification toMing-Qing times and assess their implications for economic growth.
Time: April 23, 2019 (Tuesday)，14:00-17:00
Venue: Shahe Main Teaching Building, room 408
