Historical Analysis of Market Order and Institutions in China: Market Order in China Reconsidered
March 14-15, 2009
The international workshop “Historical Analysis of Market Order and Institutions in China: Market Order in China Reconsidered” was held at the Keio University Mita Campus March 14-15, 2009. The workshop was co-sponsored by the Keio University/Kyoto University Joint Global COE Program and the Takahashi Industrial and Economic Research Foundation. The workshop sought to clarify the types of order that formed the Chinese market, by examining developments from the Song dynasty through to the Republic of China era.
Under classical economic theory, the contemporary Chinese market – with its strong emphasis on personal and human relations – was not really considered to be a “modern market.” In recent years, however, investigations of market order have placed greater emphasis on private governance and on information asymmetry and incomplete information. Accordingly, by analyzing market order in China, this line of research attempts to fuse economic history with economic theory. The findings will be reported by the COE at the 15th World Economic History Congress this August.
The workshop featured 11 reports by invited researchers from Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, broken down into five sessions. The first session began with a conference proposal by conference organizer Prof. Kazuko Furuta, followed by presentations of research reports on the legal system and goods distribution. The second session was a presentation entitled “Market Quality” by Prof. Makoto Yano of the Theory Development Department, with lively discussions among market history experts. The third session addressed the flows of information and currency, with theoretical research reports concerning Chinese market structure. The fourth session used disputes among China, Japan and the West as the axis for research reports focusing on trademarks, investments and contracts. The fifth session was an overall summary of the conference, with a great many comments and animated debate on points of dispute.
