编号：E-2024-12-4
题目：State Capacity in Imperial China - Quantifying a Millennium of Public Finance (997-1911 AD)
作者：Hanhui Guan, Debin Ma, Runzhuo Zhai
联系方式：Hanhui Guan, guanhh@pku.edu.cn
摘要：This paper reconstructs nearly a millennium series of Central governmental fiscal revenue and expenditure data for key benchmark periods between 997 A.D. and 1911 A.D. covering four imperial dynasties of Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing. Our long-term fiscal revenue series is reconstructed based on archival historical documents such as well as secondary sources. We estimate total and per capita central governmental revenue both in nominal and real terms. We decompose our fiscal revenue by types: in-kind versus monetary, land versus commercial taxes, direct versus indirect taxes, and seigniorage revenue. Overall, we show a long-decline in real per capita fiscal revenue, increasing ratio of land taxes and an increasing trend towards monetization of taxation. We further make a comparison with major European series where available. Our result inform the large and growing literature station formation, fiscal capacity, institutional change, and long-run economic growth.
