信用本质的经济学分析

信用是经济主体之间达成契约、实现交易的必要条件,因此,信用不仅体现在延期交易和资金借贷这样的特殊交易形式中,也存在于一切形式的市场交易活动中。信用的本质就是对契约关系中的义务承担者履约意向、履约能力和履约后果的确定性预期。信用的运动表现为信用在时间和空间上的延续,信用的过度膨胀和过度收缩则是信用的两种畸形运动方式。一个经济主体和其他经济主体之间一旦形成外围中心式的信用结构,就会对社会经济生活产生重要影响。从局部信用和社会整体信用之间的关系看,局部信用的丧失通常会促使经济主体之间的契约趋于完备,但完备性契约能够降低风险、减少长期交易费用的假设是以良好的社会整体信用关系为前提的。因此,一个完善的制度环境是建设社会信用体系的坚实基础。

An Economic Thinking about the Essence of Credit

Credit is the necessary condition under which economic entities can achieve and execute their contracts. Therefore, it is not only embodied in the special forms of trade such as postponed bargain, capital borrowing and lending, etc. , but also exists in all kinds of market activities. Credit, in essence, is the deterministic expectation to the willingness and the ability of an obligor in a contract to keep his promises and the result of his performance. The extending of credit along time and its expanding in space constitute its two basic forms of movement, while any excessive expansion or contraction contributes to its malformed development . Once the credit between one economic entity and others forms into a center-periphery structure, it will produce important influence upon the economic society. The thesis also discussed the relationship between the partial credit and overall credit. The loss of partial credit generally tends to produce complete contract among the relative economic entities. But the hypothesis that the individuals, by signing complete contract, are able to shun risks and reduce long-run transaction costs takes the perfect overall social credit relationship as its premise. Thus, a perfect institutional environment is the firm foundation for the construction of social credit system.