ClippingKK

北宋末年的蔡京、蔡下这些人，从政治脉络来说都属于新党，用过去的话说，都属于“改革派”。当然，彼时讲的改革派是指强化国家垄断的改革派，不是像现在我们讲的要搞市场经济的改革派

我们“批林批孔”的时候，天天在谈“克己复礼”是指林彪妄图复辟资本主义，我们一直纳闷资本主义和孔子怎么能扯上关系？为什么要把两千年前的人物拉出来做垫背？报纸上一堆生僻字的“引述”搞得我们知青给农民读报磕磕巴巴，壮族老乡更是丈二和尚摸不着头脑

The currency reform was designed to punish people who used these markets and, more specifically, to make sure that they did not become too wealthy or powerful enough to threaten the regime. Keeping them poor was safer. Black markets are not the whole story. People in North Korea also keep their savings in wons because there are few banks in Korea, and they are all owned by the government. In effect, the government used the currency reform to expropriate much of people’s savings.

The relatively inclusive economic institutions that resulted in England created unprecedented economic dynamism, culminating in the Industrial Revolution, while industrialization did not stand a chance in Spain. By the time industrial technology was spreading in many parts of the world, the Spanish economy had declined so much that there was not even a need for the Crown or the land-owning elites in Spain to block industrialization.

世界上所有的文字最早都是从音发展而来的，西方的拼音文字是这样，中国的汉字其实也是这样。早期的汉语，同音必定同义，音和义是不分的，越到后来，同音义异的现象越厉害，以至书面语和口头语的差别也越来越大，现在的同音字意思可以完全不相干，但早期往往不是这样的。汉语的发展趋势在这一点上和西方语言有点不一样

Extractive institutions then not only pave the way for the next regime, which will be even more extractive, but they also engender continuous infighting and civil wars. These civil wars then cause more human suffering and also destroy even what little state centralization these societies have achieved. This also often starts a process of descent into lawlessness, state failure, and political chaos, crushing all hopes of economic prosperity,

现在我认为，历史的发展，无论过去、现在还是未来，都是不确定的。唯其不确定，人们的努力才有意义。过去的历史发展是有因果可寻的，发现历史中的因果链是历史学家的责任。但是人文的因果不同于物理的因果，就在于前者是概率性的，而不是必然性的。因此对历史的解释不可避免地具有相对性。也正因为此，我们的未来也具有不确定性。历史研究无法使人成为一个算命先生。但历史研究能够使我们增长智慧，鉴往知今，从历史中汲取经验教训，培养正确的价值观，知道什么是我们应该抵制的，什么是值得我们追求的，并且尽量找到用力点，以提高我们追求的成功率

once pluralism and the rule of law were established, there would be demand for even greater pluralism and greater participation in the political process.