内容简介

　　美国社会学学会巴灵顿•摩尔著作奖获奖作品

　　历史研究与社会科学理论的深度结合之作

　　深入比较中英日三国财政制度转型的历史进程，回应大分流问题

　　本书从财政制度发展的角度切入“大分流”这一重大问题，选取英国内战后的十年、日本的明治维新，以及中国的太平天国时期三个关键时段进行深度的比较历史分析，借助历史制度主义的框架，探讨三个国家如何借助克服财政危机，从而实现了（或未能实现）财政制度的转型。全书融合了西方社会科学的前沿理论、丰富的一手史料和史学研究的前沿成果，对政治学、近代史和日本史研究都具有启发性。

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　　现代财政国家的出现给政治经济领域带来了革命性的变化。政府集中管理税收，将其作为资本从市场调动长期金融资源，极大增强了国家能力，显著提高了政府管理经济的效率。

　　本书聚焦现代财政国家的制度建设路径，细致比较、分析中英日三个国家在制度发展关键期（光荣革命前后的英国、明治维新时的日本和太平天国运动时期的中国）的具体历史过程。各国当政者面对既有公共财政系统的崩溃，积极找寻解决财政亏损问题的方案，并在税收办法、信用体系等方面展开多种尝试。最终，英国和日本从其成败得失中汲取经验，成功开发出公共财政工具，确立了现代财政国家制度，为成为世界强国奠定了基础；而清政府统治下的中国却未能成功。作者以宏阔的视野、新颖的框架、扎实的史料回应了“大分流”的问题，对清政府未能实现财政转型的解释极富洞察力。

　　作者简介

　　和文凯，1969年出生于云南省昆明市，清华大学学士，美国麻省理工学院政治系博士，现为香港科技大学社会科学部副教授。研究方向为国家形成，比较政治学,历史社会学，和比较历史分析。著有Paths toward the Modern Fiscal State:England,Japan and China(Harvard University Press,2013),Public Interest and State Legitimation:Early Modern England,Japan,and China(Cambridge University Press,2023)。

Content introduction

Winner of the American Sociological Association's Barrington Moore Award for Writing

A deep combination of historical research and social science theory

The historical process of financial system transformation in China, Britain and Japan is deeply compared to respond to the great divergence problem

From the perspective of the development of the financial system, this book cuts into the major issue of the "Great Divergence", and selects the ten years after the British Civil War, the Meiji Restoration in Japan, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in China for in-depth comparative historical analysis. With the help of the framework of historical institutionalism, this book discusses how the three countries overcome the financial crisis. Thus achieving (or failing to achieve) a transformation of the fiscal system. The book combines advanced theories of western social science, abundant primary historical materials and advanced achievements of historical research, and is enlightening to the study of political science, modern history and Japanese history.

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The emergence of the modern financial state has brought revolutionary changes to the political and economic fields. The centralized management of tax revenue by the government, using it as capital to mobilize long-term financial resources from the market, has greatly enhanced the capacity of the state and significantly improved the efficiency of the government in managing the economy.

This book focuses on the path of institutional construction of modern financial states, and carefully compares and analyzes the specific historical processes of China, Britain and Japan in the critical period of institutional development (Britain before and after the Glorious Revolution, Japan during the Meiji Restoration, and China during the Taiping Rebellion). In the face of the collapse of the existing public finance system, politicians in various countries actively seek solutions to the problem of financial losses, and carry out a variety of attempts in tax methods, credit systems and other aspects. Finally, Britain and Japan learned from their successes and failures, successfully developed public finance tools, established the modern fiscal state system, and laid the foundation for becoming a world power. China under the Qing government did not succeed. The author responded to the problem of "Great diversion" with broad vision, novel framework and solid historical materials, and gave a very insightful explanation of the Qing government's failure to realize fiscal transformation.

About the author

Wenkai He, born in Kunming, Yunnan Province in 1969, received his bachelor's degree from Tsinghua University, PhD in political science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA, and is currently an associate professor in the Department of Social Sciences at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research interests include state formation, comparative politics, historical sociology, and comparative historical analysis. Author of Paths toward the Modern Fiscal State:England,Japan and China(Harvard University Press,2013),Public Interest and State Legitimation:Early Modern England,Japan,and China(Cambridge University Press,2023).