Journal of Economic Studies in Literature
JESL, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2026, pp.1-24.
Print ISSN: 3107-3492; Online ISSN: 3107-3506
Journal homepage: https://www.jesljournal.com
DOI: https://doi.org/10.64058/jesl260101rsccf
Reward System, Commercial Crime, and Free Market Anxiety in Eighteenth-Century British Literature
Abstract: In eighteenth-century Britain, commercial crime was rampant, and the mercantilist government, seeking to reduce crime and consolidate the emerging political order, instituted a reward system that rewarded citizens for reporting thefts, robberies, and other offenses. In effect, this system commercialized criminal activity and gave rise to a class of “commercial policemen”. Characters in The Beggar’s Opera and The Life of Jonathan Wild the Great assume the role of these commercial agents, orchestrating “bloody enterprises”, manipulating stolen goods markets, and accumulating wealth through the management of criminal gangs. Their operations serve as an allegory for the increasingly pervasive commercial crimes within Britain’s free market. Under Prime Minister Walpole’s corrupt regime, political processes and commercial activity were deeply intertwined. Corporations, merchants, and the mercantilist government commodified human beings and colluded with prison officials to exploit the populace for profit. These works portray the abandonment of moral sentiments in pursuit of economic gain, reflecting the disorder and instability of the free market and evoking eighteenth-century anxieties over the health of England’s free-market economy and body politic.
Keywords: Reward System; Commercial Crime; Free Market Anxiety; The Beggar’s Opera; The Life of Jonathan Wild the Great
Author Biography: Tao Jiusheng (corresponding author), Ph.D, professor of Faculty of Foreign Languages, Hainan University; Principal Investigator of a Major Project funded by the National Social Science Fund of China; Research interests: English Renaissance literature, interdisciplinary literary studies. E-mail: taojiush@163.com. Wu Libing, postgraduate student at the Faculty of Foreign Languages, Ningbo University. E-mail: bingliwu1207@163.com.
标题：十八世纪英国文学中的赏金制度、商业犯罪与自由市场焦虑
摘要：18世纪商业犯罪频发，重商主义政府为降低犯罪率及巩固新兴政权，颁布赏金制度，鼓励英国民众通过举报盗窃、抢劫等罪行获得高额赏金，这一制度在某种意义上使犯罪活动商业化，催生了“商业警察”这一群体。《乞丐的歌剧》与《大人物江奈生·魏尔德传》中的人物均担任“商业警察”角色，通过教唆或举报手下劫匪运营其商业犯罪集团，策划“血腥生意”、操控赃物市场以攫取利益、囤积财富，其商业运作方式隐喻自由市场中英国日益猖獗的各类商业犯罪案件。首相沃波尔腐败政权中，英国政治运作与商业活动高度交织，两部作品中的公司、商人与重商主义政府，为谋取经济利益将人商品化，与监狱狱警政商勾结，对百姓的肆意剥削，均展现他们沉迷商业利益而抛弃道德情操的情形，影射英国自由市场的混乱与失序，暗含18世纪英格兰社会的自由市场与政治（经济）身体健康焦虑。
关键词：赏金制度；商业犯罪；自由市场焦虑；《乞丐的歌剧》；《大人物江奈生·魏尔德传》
作者介绍：陶久胜 (通讯作者)，博士，海南大学外国语学院教授，国家社科基金重大项目首席专家，研究方向：英国文艺复兴文学、文学跨学科研究。邮箱：taojiush@163.com。吴丽冰，宁波大学外国语学院研究生。邮箱：bingliwu1207@163.com。
Received: 10 May 2026 / Revised: 15 May 2026 / Accepted: 01 Jun. 2026 / Published online: 15 Jun. 2026 / Print published: 25 Jun. 2026.
