@article {Dai:November 2008:0082-5433:306,
	author = "Dai, Lianbin",
	title = "The Economics of the Jiaxing Edition of the Buddhist Tripitaka",
	journal = "T'oung Pao",
	volume = "94",
	year = "November 2008",
	abstract = "This essay draws on economic information in the colophons and catalogues of the Jiaxing Tripitaka to examine the fluctuations of its costs and price in the late Ming and early Qing. The price of the texts included in the Jiaxing Tripitaka increased from the mid-seventeenth century onwards, as did the costs for transcribing and carving wood-blocks. Relative to the value of rice in the Yangzi Delta from 1589 to 1715, the value of a volume of the Tripitaka generally rose. Yet the relative value of a book is not the same as its affordability, which is determined by the book's price, its value relative to other commodities, the real income of the purchaser, and other economic and non-economic elements. It is hoped that this investigation will contribute new views to the history of books in late imperial China.",
	pages = "306-359(54)",
	url = "http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/top/2008/00000094/F0020004/art00003"
	doi = "doi:10.1163/008254308X385888"
}