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Good bye Chiang Kai-shek? The long-lasting effects of education under the authoritarian regime in Taiwan

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  • Bai, Yu
  • Li, Yanjun

Abstract

Does experiencing an authoritarian regime at an early age have long-lasting effects on people’s political outcomes through an educational channel? This paper aims to explore this causality by employing an example from Taiwan. After the former leader Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law in 1987, Taiwan ended the authoritarian regime and began democratization. During that period, the Ministry of Education removed the major part of ideological content rapidly in primary and secondary schools. Exploiting this historical event, we utilize cut-off birth dates for school enrollment that lead to variation in the length of exposure to the authoritarian education system from 1979 to 1987 within the same birth cohort. Based on around 2,000 observations from the Taiwan Social Change Survey (TSCS), we find that one additional academic year of exposure to authoritarian education during youth decreases political participation, increases the likelihood to support and vote for the KMT party, and drops the probability of self-declared Taiwanese identity rather than Chinese in later life. Our results persist after ruling out alternative interpretations and are robust to different sensitivity tests.

Suggested Citation

  • Bai, Yu & Li, Yanjun, 2020. "Good bye Chiang Kai-shek? The long-lasting effects of education under the authoritarian regime in Taiwan," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:78:y:2020:i:c:s0272775720305306
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econedurev.2020.102044
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    Cited by:

    1. BAI Yu & TANAKA Ryuichi, 2024. "A Long-run Consequence of Relaxation-Oriented Education on Labor Market Performance," Discussion papers 24003, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Education; Authoritarian regime; Political attitudes; The long-term effects; Contemporary economic history; Taiwan;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • N4 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation
    • P16 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Institutions; Welfare State

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