Led by Professor Cameron Campbell, the Culture, Religion and Long-Term Consequences Research Cluster explores Confucianism as economic institutions, shedding light on its contributions throughout Chinese history and its paradoxical role in modernisation.
The role of culture in development has received much attention in academia and policymaking (Nunn, 2012). However, little is known about how China’s long-term performance has been shaped by what is now referred to as Confucianism, which began developing approximately 2,500 years ago. As a way of life, Confucianism formed the social, moral and institutional foundation of China. Confucianism has long been viewed as a culture or even a religion rather than a set of economic institutions. The Culture, Religion and Long-Term Consequences Research Cluster investigates Confucianism as a set of economic institutions, focusing in particular on the roles of interpersonal resource-pooling and risk-sharing performed by lineage organisations structured according to Confucian principles. By doing so, the cluster aims to shed new light on the contributions of Confucianism in Chinese history.
性別規范對婦女的福祉產生了深遠影響，經濟力量推動了文化習俗的形成。范昕宇和武玲蔚發表在International Economic Review的文章“The Shaping Of A Gender Norm: Marriage, Labor, And Foot-Binding In Historical China”以中國歷史上纏足文化習俗為例，通過考察社會上升管道、婚姻市場和勞動力激勵機制，闡釋了社會規范背後的經濟動力。
外國侵略會給被強行吞並的地區留下難以彌合的傷痕。異邦的高壓統治可能催發當地人的政治幻滅感，使之對國家機器持疑慮和冷淡的態度；也可能激發民族主義和排外情緒。此外，站起來反抗侵略的政黨也會得到當地人的擁戴。這些機制都會塑造當地未來的政治格局。
長期以來，商業銀行在經濟發展中的作用一直廣受學界關注。一方面，銀行通過處理支付、促進儲蓄、充當金融仲介、將流動性低的低收益存款轉化為長期的高收益資產、篩選和監督信貸等方式，促進了經濟活動。若銀行倒閉，這些服務就會中斷，因此擾亂商業和製造業運行。同時也有其他學者認為，銀行只是眾多金融仲介之一。 即使沒有銀行，其他金融中介機構也會隨時處理付款、促進儲蓄和中介融資，使經濟活動穩定運行。因此，銀行倒閉對總體經濟的影響應該不大。
近年來，自動化浪潮席捲全球，各國對自動化的顧慮也急劇上升。蘿蔔快跑等自動駕駛出行服務平台的出現，也引發人們的熱議。 然而，自動化對於勞動力市場的影響，特別是在多大程度上減少了就業，以及波及哪些人群，仍舊是不清晰的。從理論上講，自動化的負作用可以被生產力增長、新工作的出現等反作用力抵消。因此，工作力需求是否會從大規模自動化事件中恢復、在哪裏恢復、恢復的速度，以及誰會承受其後果，是極需研究的問題。
社會網路分析是目前被廣泛應用的研究方法，特別是在一些交叉學科之中。 本文以量化歷史研究中的社會網路分析為例，基於政治、軍事、思想文化、經濟等領域的案例，介紹其原理與應用，說明其在説明理解社會結構中的人，建立微觀個體與宏觀社會現象之間的聯繫，揭示社會複雜特徵等方面的價值。
Survival cannibalism persisted across human societies until recently. What drove the decline in cannibalism and other forms of violence? Using data from the 1470–1910 period, this paper documents that in historical China, the Confucian clan—an institutionalized kinship network—acted as an informal internal market to facilitate intra-clan resource pooling and risk-sharing, thus reducing the need for cannibalism during times of drought-related famine. The risk mitigation role of the clan remains robust after controlling for economic development and other factors and ruling out alternative channels. Thus, kinship networks and their associated culture contributed to human civilizational development before the advent of formal markets.
This paper examines how the worship of ancient wisdom affects economic progress in historical China, where the learned class embraced classical wisdom for millennia but encountered the shock of Western industrial influence in the mid-nineteenth century. Using the number of sage temples to measure the strength of classical worship in 269 prefectures, I find that classical worship discouraged intellectuals from appreciating modern learning and thus inhibited industrialization between 1858 and 1927. By contrast, industrialization grew faster in regions less constrained by classicism. This finding implies the importance of cultural entrepreneurship, or the lack thereof, in shaping modern economic growth.
“The humor of blaming the present, and admiring the past, is strongly rooted in human nature, and has an influence even on persons endued with the profoundest judgment and most extensive learning.”
—David Hume (1754, p. 464).
This paper examines the causal effect of political legitimacy on stability, using the historical case of Imperial China. Chinese rulers ascribed their legitimacy to a heavenly mandate. Calamities like earthquakes were considered to be a sign of weakened approval, making quakes a proxy for a negative legitimacy shock. I use quake-induced minor shaking (i.e., strong enough to be felt, but too weak to cause material damage) to demonstrate that legitimacy shocks cause more conflicts. I examine whether quakes serve as a coordination device to overcome collective action problems.
