发展经济学的滥觞：晚清重商思想三题议

晚清重商思想是近代经济思想史中的＂关键词＂,本文探讨了晚近研究中忽视的三个问题：何谓＂重商＂;重商思想的演变;重商思想之要旨。并认为,重商思想从结构性制约探寻富强之道开出了中国经济思想的近代化面向,在近代语境下由落后变先进的时代诉求赋予晚清重商思想以＂发展经济学＂的特质,以郑观应为代表的晚清重商论者触及了中国近代化转型的要害,可视为中国特色发展经济学的先驱与开拓者。

The Origin of Development Economics:Understanding the Mercantile Thought in Late Qing Dynasty

The mercantile thought in the Late Qing Dynasty played an important role in transformation of economic thought from tradition to modernity.The paper explores such three basic problems of mercantile thought as:(1)how to define mercantile thought;(2)how did it develop together with radical social change;(3)and what is the core idea of it.The paper argues that in order to achieve industrialization,the mercantile thought led the way in exploring systematic changes of the politics,economy,society and culture after China was brought into the world system dominated by the Western powers.Therefore,the mercantile thought can be characterized as the origin of development economics which is attributed to the arduous exploration of mercantilists with strong commitment.