조선후기 왕실재정의 구조와 규모

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is both to reconstruct the structure of Royal finance in the late Chosŏn dynasty and to estimate its volume. The starting point of analysis is Ilsasagung(一司四宮) in 1860s. Ilsasagung were the main Royal family houses (and also procurement agencies) such as Naesusa(內需司), Myŏngryegung(明禮宮), Sujingung(壽進宮), Ŏŭigung(於義宮) and Yongdonggung(龍洞宮). The operation of these institutions was composed of both the income of collecting taxes or rents from peasants or producers and the expenditure to Seoul merchants in order to procure items. The main source of Royal familys income was Kungbangjŏn(宮房田) which consisted of paddy fields, dry fields, forests, grasslands and so on. The income from Kungbangjŏn ranged from (commodity) money to several goods including local products. From the result of analysis, we could find that the ratio of money over commodities in Royal finance was higher than that in public (government) finance. This shows the private aspect of Royal finance. Moreover, subsidies from other financial agencies were larger than the own income of Royal families. We could interpret this as not self-supporting finance of Royal family. In addition, Royal finances share of the whole public (dynasty) finance is not very big. However, the volatility of Royal finance tells us that its procurement system was the key (or marginal) element to identify the economic system of the late Chosŏn dynasty whereas the official tribute system(貢物制度) was rather fixed in the long run.