大概没有人否认,我们国家南方的市场化程度高,北方市场化程度低;南方经济发达,北方经济落后。其根本原因是:北方经济的交易费用高。经济的交易费用高,原因有三:一是私产的界定和保护不好;二是法治不力;三是政府没有履行好自己的职责,介入具体经济活动过多。私有产权本身就有降低交易费用的功能,但是,仅仅私有产权还不能有效地降低交易费用。现在市场经济通常要借助第三方来协助执行合约和完成交易,这个第三方不是别的,正是法律和法院。私产、法治不是市场运行的结果,而是市场有效运行的前提条件。这个前提条件是需要政府来创造和维持的。所以经济的交易费用高,归根结底是因为政府没有履行好自己职能的缘故。政府介入具体经济活动过多,难免要破坏私有产权,法治也很难推行。我们很多人批评政府官僚制度,办事缺乏效率。但这是搞错了方向。你要政府介入具体的经济活动,那么一个层层审批、相互牵制的官僚制度就是必需的,你就接受一个低效率的官僚制度。你不愿意要官僚制度也可以,那你就不要让政府介入具体的经济活动。政府不介入具体的经济活动是有条件的,只有在私有产权的情况下,政府才有可能不介入具体的经济活动。 Probably nobody deny that there is a high degree of marketization in the south of our country and a low degree of marketization in the north; the economy in the south is prosperous and the economy in the north lags behind. The basic reason is that the transaction costs of the northern economy are high. Economic transaction costs are high for three reasons: First, the definition and protection of private property is poor; second, the weak rule of law; third, the government fails to fulfill its duties and involves excessive economic activities. Private property itself has the function of reducing transaction costs, but private property alone can not effectively reduce transaction costs. Now the market economy is usually assisted by a third party to execute the contract and complete the transaction. The third party is nothing but the law and the court. Private property and the rule of law are not the result of market operation, but a precondition for the effective operation of the market. This precondition is that the government needs to create and maintain. Therefore, the high cost of economic transactions, in the final analysis because the government failed to fulfill its own functions. Too much government involvement in specific economic activities will inevitably destroy private property and the rule of law will be very difficult to implement. Many of us criticize the government bureaucracy and our work lacks efficiency. But this is the wrong direction. If you want the government to intervene in specific economic activities, then a bureaucratic system of layers of approval and mutual restraint is necessary, and you accept an inefficient bureaucracy. You do not want the bureaucratic system can do, then you do not let the government involved in specific economic activities. The government is not involved in specific economic activities is conditional, only in the case of private property, the government may not be involved in specific economic activities.