元代江南政策的主體為"安業力農"、"重商"和重"市舶",四等人壓迫和諸色戶計制的嫁接推衍,則是其局部。忽必烈等實行南北異制,維持和保護了江南"富民"農商經濟且有所繁榮發展。明前期衛所軍戶、"均工夫"配戶、里甲"畫地為牢"、移民徙富和抑商海禁等政策,起步和重點實施於江南且觸動極大,幾乎倒退至單純自然經濟狀態。蒙元江南統治與寬縱豪富相"背反",官場腐敗與貧富懸殊相疊加,招致經濟畸形和"官逼民反"、"富逼窮反"。明初富民農商秩序破壞及戶役法的南北通行,改變了近千年江南富民大地主為核心的經濟結構,取而代之的是與北方相差無幾的"配戶當差"。元明江南社會發展,居然因寬縱豪富和管制農商二模式交替及忽必烈和朱元璋的個性,從開放繁華到鎖國蕭條,大起大落,而且成為14世紀中國經濟由先進跌入落伍的轉捩點。

The principal element in Yuan policy in the Jiangnan region south of the Yangtze was" putting effort into farming," "valuing commerce," and "valuing maritime trade. "Other transplanted or derived policies, such as the oppressive division of society into four ranks and registering households by occupation, were part of this. Thanks to the different policies implemented by Kublai Khan in the north and south, the "wealthy" in Jiangnan were preserved and protected, and the commercial and agricultural economy enjoyed a certain prosperity. The policies of the first part of the Ming Dynasty, such as military garrison lands, assignment to corvée services, the li jia(里甲)taxation and control system, the relocation of ordinary people and the rich, and curbing commerce and banning maritime trade, began and were implemented mainly in the Jiangnan region. They had a big effect on the area, which regressed to nearly a purely natural economy. Ming policy ran counter to Mongol Yuan rule in Jiangnan, with its relaxed attitude to the rich and powerful. Official corruption and the great disparity between the rich and the poor compounded to produce a distorted economy in which "official extortion drove popular rebellion, "and "the rich drove the poor to revolt. "In the early Ming, the collapse of the economic order of wealthy landowners and merchants and the tying of corvée services to the household across the country changed the Jiangnan economic structure, which had been centered on rich commoners and big landowners for nearly a thousand years, and replaced it with the policy of pei hu dang chai(配戶當差occupational household registration).The social development of Jiangnan during the Yuan and Ming dynasties saw a dramatic change, from a region that was open and prosperous to one that was sealed off and economically depressed, due to the intersection of the two models: a relaxed policy toward the rich and powerful as against one of tight control over agriculture. An additional factor was the personal character of Kublai Khan and Zhu Yuanzhang. The region’s fall in the fourteenth century from the heights of prosperity marked a turning point in China’s economy, a time when the country ceased to be advanced and fell behind.