Abstract

It is often assumed that the market economy and the open society reinforce each other and have risen together. Even those who are more skeptical about their long-run compatibility will usually agree that the rise of the two was part of a process of modernization, starting in early modern England and unfolding in the modern West. This article builds on the latest historical research to reject this assumption. It shows that several market economies existed much earlier in history. These were all preceded by social movements generating a more open society. In each of these cases, the functioning of the market economy slowly eroded social and, next, political openness, and later shriveled itself again. This endogenous, cycle-like process, in which the interaction of the market economy and the open society developed from positive to negative, may also be seen in modern cases, including the present USA.

中文翻译：

---

市场经济之前的开放社会：历史分析

摘要

人们通常认为，市场经济和开放社会相互促进，并且共同崛起。即使是那些对它们的长期兼容性持怀疑态度的人，也通常会同意，两者的兴起是现代化进程的一部分，始于近代早期的英格兰，并在近代的西方不断发展。本文以最新的历史研究为基础，以拒绝这种假设。它表明，几个市场经济体存在的历史要早得多。这些都是在社会运动产生了更加开放的社会之前进行的。在以上每种情况下，市场经济的运作都会慢慢侵蚀社会以及其次的政治开放性，然后又再次萎缩。这种内生的，类似周期的过程，其中市场经济与开放社会的互动从积极发展到消极，