演講者簡介 : Prof. Olds received his Ph.D. in Economics from University of Rochester in 1993. He is currently a Professor at National Taiwan University. His research field is Economic History.
演講摘要 : In the last-half of the nineteenth century, northern Taiwan experienced a tea boom. Exports increased greatly leading to a large trade surplus accompanied by large inflows of silver. The increase in the money supply lowered interest rates in north Taiwan. With higher real money balances, landowners put less land on the market causing a great increase in real estate prices. The banking system allowed businesses to move funds easily in and out of the north Taiwan area, but once silver reached Taiwanese farmers in the village economy, who had no access to deposit banking, they held onto the money or used it only locally. Thus, one can argue that one reason international trade had a limited impact on Chinese economic development in the nineteenth century was the lack of banking services outside the business sector, which caused local money gluts instead of directing the money earned to its most valuable use.
