日治時代臺灣農家之消費結構

Abstract

In regard to the living standard of Taiwanese during the Japanese colonial period, some studies such as Chang (1955), Ho (1968, 1978), Ho (1971) and Myers (1970), have used different methods and different data in their research. However, consistent conclusions have not been derived yet. Furthermore, none of the studies systematically analyzed the determinants of the living standard. This article uses the households’ consumption structure as the indicator of the living standard, applies more systematical models, and uses more complete data, to find how and why the living standard of Taiwanese changed during this period. We obtain four major conclusions. (1) From 1918-1921 to 1936-1937, the living standard improved gradually, and the most significant change took place in the decade of the 1930s when the planting of ponlai rice was quickly increasing. (2) During the depression era of the 1930s, the living standard was still higher than that of the 1910s. (3) The living standard already started to deteriorate before W.W.II. broke out, and it seems not to have recovered the level of 1920-1940 until the 1960s. (4) Income, family size, variety of crops, and taxes were the main factors affecting a households’ consumption structure. However, the effect of taxes was not obvious until 1931, and was limited only to the share of food.

關於日治時代台灣人民物質生活水準的變化，過去已有學者，例如張漢裕、何保山、何益民以及Myers等人，利用不同的分析方法，配合不同的資料加以研究，但所獲的結論不盡相同，至令對此一問題也尚未有最後的定論。而對於日治時代台灣人民生活水準為何會提高或下降，到底是受哪些因素的影響，這些因素如何影響生活水準等等問題，過去的研究也未曾有系統而嚴謹地討論過。本文利用農家消費結構的變化作為指標，以更有系統的方法與更完整的資料，重新探討日治時代台灣農家物質生活水準的變遷，得到四個主要的結論。(1) 在1918-1921至1936-1937年，台灣農家的物質生活水準應該有所改善；而改善的速度以1930年代蓬萊米快速擴張的時期為最快。(2) 在經濟不景氣的1930年代初期，農家生活水準可能並不低於1910年代底的期間。(3) 在尚未開戰的備戰時期，生活水準似乎就已經開始惡化；此後，直到戰後1960年代農家的物質生活，可能尚未恢復到戰前1920-1940 字的水準。(4) 所得、家庭人口數、種作別、租稅負擔是影響農家消費結構的比較重要因素。不過，租稅負擔對農家消費結構的影響力，一直要到1931年以後，才發揮出來，而其影響也僅及於飲食費支出份額。