张 劼 摘 要 个体经济在中国经济发展中发挥着独特的作用，但迄今为止缺乏对中国个体经济进行系统研究的文献。本文致力于探讨改革开放以来我国个体经济的发展态势及其成因。首先，本文系统回顾了个体经济的政策演变过程，并整理出全国、各产业、分城乡和分地区的有关个体经济发展状况的数据，据此梳理改革开放以来中国个体经济发展的总体状况和结构特点，发现1999年以后个体经济发展出现停滞主要是农村个体经济的萎缩带来的。随后，本文从我国的现实约束条件出发，利用制度经济学和发展经济学的基本原理分析导致中国个体经济发展变化的主要因素，指出城市化引起的农村市场需求萎缩是1999年以后在注册资金稳定增长的情况下产值、从业人数、户数等主要指标均出现下降的主要原因。最后，本文运用计量方法考察制度变迁与经济发展对个体经济发展状况的影响。结果表明：在控制了人均收入水平与市场化因素对个体经济发展的影响后，城市化水平的提高明显抑制了个体经济的发展，证实了前面的假说。 关键词：个体经济；制度变迁；城市化；就业 JEL分类：D23; D29; J21 Abstract Individual economy currently plays a unique role in national economy in China. However, systemic investigation of this sector has been yet scarce. This paper is devoted to discussing the development status of individual economy in China since its reform and open in 1979, meanwhile to exploring the causes. First of all, the paper generally reviews the transformation process of individual economy policy in China, and then collects and collates data arranged according to the nation, different industries, urban and rural areas and different regions, about the development condition on individual economy, subsequently concludes the general status and structural characteristics for the development of individual economy in China, finding that the standstill of individual economy after 1999 was primarily resulted from the depression of rural individual economy. Secondly, based on the realistic restraining conditions in China and the theory of economic institution and economic development, this paper explores the main causations for the changes on the development of individual economy in China. It infers that the shrink of rural market demand, caused by urbanization, produced the amount decline of output, employed population and business units, even with stably increasing registered capital. Finally, this paper applies the econometrics methods to investigating the influence on the development of individual economy caused by institutional changes and economical development. The result shows the development of individual economy will be restrained significantly by the ascending urbanization level, if the influence of average individual income level and marketability are under control, which proves the initial hypothesis. Keywords: Individual Economy; Institutional Change; Urbanization; Employment JEL Classification: D23; D29; J21