Dissertation Research: History, Institution, and the Political Economy of Night Market in Taiwan

该项目支持加州大学戴维斯分校一位文化人类学家的学位论文研究。这名学生将学习台湾的夜市，这是一家当地的街头市场机构，向城市居民提供廉价的预制食品和消费品。该项目将研究市场的历史和政府对其行为的监管作用，以及市场在城市居民生活中的意义。它是对一个充满活力和生产力的社会的“非正式经济”的研究。方法包括对市场的调查，对营销人员生活史的密集采访，对历史文件的检查，以及对营销人员和客户的调查采访。这个项目之所以重要，是因为人们对发展中经济体的非正规部门没有很好的了解，而这一对发展中经济体中充满活力的非正规市场机构的案例研究将有助于建立关于如何在向城市居民提供高水平消费服务的同时实现和维持经济发展的理论。

This project supports the dissertation research of a cultural anthropologist from the University of California-Davis. The student will study the night markets in Taiwan, a local institution of street markets providing inexpensive prepared foods and consumer items to urban residents. The project will study the history of the markets and the role of government regulations on their behavior, as well as the meaning of the markets in the lives of urban residents. It is a study in the "informal economy" of a dynamic and productive society. Methods include surveys of the markets, intensive interviews with marketers on their life histories, examination of historical documents, and survey interviews with marketers and customers. This project is important because the informal sector of developing economies is not well understood, and this case study of a dynamic informal market institution in a growing economy will help build theory on how to achieve and sustain economic development while providing a high level of consumer service to urban residents.