| The Zhang Juzheng reform is an attempt to improve the country’s governance capacity.It was followed by the Wang Anshi Reform and the Yongzheng Reform,and is the inheritance and development of China’s ancient excellent governance ideas.Zhang Juzheng’s governance thought reflects the concern for the vulnerable groups,the restraint of the rulers,and the affirmation of the spirit of altruism,which has much in common with China’s governance goals of "eliminating polarization to achieve common prosperity","building a harmonious socialist society",and has certain enlightenment significance for China to improve its national governance capacity.Therefore,the study of Zhang Juzheng’s reform has its era value.There has never been a lack of research on Zhang Juzheng’s reform in various disciplines,especially in the field of fiscal reform.The traditional economic community has had very rich research results.But at the same time,we should also note that as a politician,Zhang Juzheng’s main task is to participate in national governance,and the essence of national governance is to provide public goods.Therefore,Zhang Juzheng’s reform is not only a change in the financial system,but also a reconstruction of the public economic order of the Ming Dynasty.So it is necessary to re-examine Zhang Juzheng’s reform using the research methods of public economics on the basis of previous studies.This article aims to collect and organize historical materials,study the background and measures of Zhang Juzheng’s reform,analyze the effectiveness of the reform from the perspective of public economics,and reflect on the tragic outcome of Zhang Juzheng’s reform,with the aim of providing inspiration for current national governance.The article starts by reviewing the research of other scholars on Zhang Juzheng’s reform,taking into account the research of scholars from various disciplines and periods on Zhang Juzheng’s reform.It focuses on the literature that studies Zhang Juzheng’s reform from an economic perspective.Traditional economists’ analysis of Zhang Juzheng’s reform has been insightful and fruitful,but their research focuses mostly on tax reform,with little involvement in broader issues such as national governance and public product provision.Therefore,in the subsequent analysis of the reform background,the article pointed out the crises that occurred in the public economy field of the Ming Dynasty before Zhang Juzheng’s reform,the problems in national governance,and the reasons for these problems.The reform of Zhang Juzheng is aimed at addressing the causes of these problems in the public economy.For the human factors that lead to public economic crises,Zhang Juzheng not only promotes the use of exam based laws to constrain the behavior of executors,but also strengthens altruistic education for decision-makers and executors;Regarding institutional factors,Zhang Juzheng cleared the land,implemented the One Whip Law,and reformed the taxation and servitude system.From the results,it can be seen that Zhang Juzheng’s reform has achieved good results,revitalizing the aging Ming Dynasty once again: the frequency of border and flood disasters has decreased,administrative efficiency has improved,and the financial situation has also improved.Therefore,Zhang Juzheng’s reform is generally a successful one,and Zhang Juzheng is also a qualified politician and reformer.Zhang Juzheng’s inheritance and development of China’s excellent governance ideas are worth learning and learning from.However,after the death of Zhang Juzheng,his reform measures were quickly put to rest,and Zhang Juzheng himself suffered liquidation.This forced us to reflect on why Zhang Juzheng’s reform ultimately did not achieve long-term results? From the perspective of the public economy,Zhang Juzheng broke the balance between decision-makers and executors while reforming,laying hidden dangers for the operation of the public economy.Moreover,Zhang Juzheng’s altruistic education of decision-makers and executors has failed,which has led to the behavior of decisionmakers and executors being made out of external pressure and is unsustainable.Therefore,having learned from Zhang Juzheng’s reform,we should promote common prosperity with the help of institutional public goods and strengthen the education of altruism to the rulers in today’s modernization of national governance system and governance capacity. |
