生產與消費是經濟活動的兩大重要因素。隨著國家的產生,與政府支配能力的發展,政治就越深入經濟活動的過程,從而發生政治與經濟複雜的相互關係。商鞅變法最顯著的特徵就是廢除封建制度,建立由君主所掌控的官僚體系之統治制度。本研究發現《商君書》之中已然論及國家的整體生產力,也就是生力;以及相對於此的消耗力,也就是殺力的交互作用。藉由爵位這種政治性商品的制度設計,促使人民產生穩定的關於獲利的心理預期,從而刺激生產意願。同時也利用嚴酷的律令,不只塑造關於損害的心理預期,也可藉由實際的消耗避免爵位氾濫而失去值得獲取的有價性。最後,《商君書》納粟拜爵的主張在秦國的歷史中只是特例,並沒有形成制度,只有軍功授爵被實際的制度化。也因此秦代對於農業採取的是懲罰重於獎勵的方式,相對地,對於軍事活動則是獎賞重於懲罰統治方式。
Production and consumption are two important factors in economic activities. With the emergence of the state and the development of government control capabilities, politics has become more deeply embedded in the process of economic activities, resulting in complex interrelationship between politics and economic. The most significant of Shang Yang's reform was the abolition of the feudal system and the establishment of a bureaucratic system of governance controlled by the monarch. This study found that The Book of Lord Shang has already discussed the interaction between a country's overall productivity which is called as Sheng Li and the consumption of a country which is called Sha Li. Through the institutional design of nobility, a kind of political commodity, people are encouraged to have stable psychological expectations about profits thus stimulating the willingness to produce. At the same time, strict laws are used not only to shape psychological expectation of damage but also to prevent the proliferation of nobility and the loss of value worth obtaining through actual consumption. Finally, the idea of paying grains to be conferred nobility in The Book of Lord Shang was only a special case in Qin Dynasty and did not be formed a institution. Only the awarding of nobility for military merit was actually institutionalized. Therefore, Qin Dynasty adopted a governance method which emphasized punishment over rewards for agriculture. In contrast, Qin Dynasty emphasized rewards over punishment for military activities.