The Changing Trend and Quantitative Measurement of Fiscal Capacity in the Qing Dynasty—A Tentative Study on the Financial Revenue and Expenditure Data of Silver Treasury of the Ministry of Revenue in the Four Periods of Yongzheng,Qianlong,Jiaqing and Daogu
Fiscal capacity is considered to be an important reason for the economic divergence between the East and the West in the 18th and 19th centuries,but the quantitative measurement of fiscal capacity in the Qing Dynasty is still a research gap in aca-demia.Based on the revenue and expenditure data of silver treasury of the Ministry of Revenue in the Qing Dynasty,this paper aims to analyze the time trend of changes in fiscal revenue and expenditure during this period.In addition,based on the two di-mensions of fiscal surplus and physical conversion,the fiscal capacity index of the Yongzheng,Qianlong,Jiaqing,and Daoguang periods is constructed,and the correlation between the fiscal capacity index and related economic variables during this period is further discussed.The conclusion shows that there is an expected correlation between the fiscal capacity index construc-ted based on the fiscal revenue and expenditure of the Ministry of Revenue in the early Qing Dynasty and relevant macro varia-bles,which has significant explanatory power for the wages,welfares,and cost of living at that time.This has important aca-demic reference value for quantitative analysis on the national capacity of the Qing Dynasty.
financial capacitynational capacityindex constructionfiscal revenue and expendituresilver treasury of the Minis-try of Revenue
NETL
NSTL
万方数据
