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Circle of Fortune: The Long Term Impact of Western Customs Institutions in China

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  • Gan Jin

    (Department of International Economic Policy, University of Freiburg)

Abstract

This paper studies the persistent impact of good institutions on economic development in China. By exploiting a British-driven institutional switch in part of China's customs stations in 1902, I find that counties that were more affected by the British customs institutions are also better developed today. Moreover, I show that the institutional switch was exogenous to the pre-colonial development, and I provide different estima- tion models to reveal a robust and causal relationship between good institutions and economic development.

Suggested Citation

  • Gan Jin, 2018. "Circle of Fortune: The Long Term Impact of Western Customs Institutions in China," Discussion Paper Series 37, Department of International Economic Policy, University of Freiburg, revised Jul 2018.
    • Handle: RePEc:fre:wpaper:37
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Institutions; Economic development; Treaty ports; Chinese Maritime Customs Service (CMCS); China;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N15 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Asia including Middle East
    • O10 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - General
    • P51 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Analysis of Economic Systems

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