The political economy of the Han: introduction / Terry Peach -- From contention to unification: transformation of economic thought in the Han dynasty and its heritage / Cheng Lin and Zhang Shen -- Dong Zhongshu and Confucian economic thought as state ideology in the Western Han Dynasty / Zhong Xiangcai -- The monetary and fiscal system of the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties / Ma Tao and Li Wei -- Monetary Thought in the Han Dynasty and Three Kingdoms Period (220 BCE-280 CE) / Gavin S.H. Chiu and S.C. Kwan -- The system of tribute equalisation in the Han / Li Chaomin -- War economy in the Western Han Dynasty / Elisa Levi Sabattini -- The 'land quota' system in the Han Dynasty and its historical influence / Wang Fang -- A Western perspective on the Yantie lun / Bertram Schefold -- Sima Qian and laissez faire: satire on a 'Discordant and Degenerate Age' / Terry Peach.