IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/27107.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Education and Innovation: The Long Shadow of the Cultural Revolution

Author

Listed:
  • Zhangkai Huang
  • Gordon M. Phillips
  • Jialun Yang
  • Yi Zhang

Abstract

The Cultural Revolution deprived Chinese students of the opportunity to receive higher education for 10 years when colleges and universities were closed from 1966-1976. We examine the human capital cost of this loss of education on subsequent innovation by firms, and ask if it impacted firms more than 30 years later. We examine the innovation of firms with CEOs who turned 18 during the Cultural Revolution, which sharply reduced their chances of attending college. Using multiple approaches to control for selection and endogeneity, including an instrument based on whether the CEO turned 18 during the Cultural Revolution and a regression discontinuity approach, we show that Chinese firms led by CEOs without a college degree spend less on R&D, generate fewer patents, and receive fewer citations to these patents.

Suggested Citation

  • Zhangkai Huang & Gordon M. Phillips & Jialun Yang & Yi Zhang, 2020. "Education and Innovation: The Long Shadow of the Cultural Revolution," NBER Working Papers 27107, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27107
    Note: CF POL
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w27107.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fleisher, Belton M. & Chen, Jian, 1997. "The Coast-Noncoast Income Gap, Productivity, and Regional Economic Policy in China," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(2), pages 220-236, October.
    2. Fleisher, Belton & Li, Haizheng & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2010. "Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 215-231, July.
    3. Bronwyn H. Hall & Adam Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 2005. "Market Value and Patent Citations," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 36(1), pages 16-38, Spring.
    4. Nicola Gennaioli & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez De Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2014. "Growth in regions," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 259-309, September.
      • Nicola Gennaioli & Rafael LaPorta & Florencio Lopez-de-Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, "undated". "Growth in Regions," Working Paper 73436, Harvard University OpenScholar.
      • Nicola Gennaioli & Rafael La Porta & Florencio Lopez de Silanes & Andrei Shleifer, 2013. "Growth in Regions," NBER Working Papers 18937, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Alberto Alesina & Nicola Fuchs-Schundeln, 2005. "Good bye Lenin (or not?): The effect of Communism on people's preferences," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 2076, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research.
    6. Bronwyn H. Hall & Adam B. Jaffe & Manuel Trajtenberg, 2001. "The NBER Patent Citation Data File: Lessons, Insights and Methodological Tools," NBER Working Papers 8498, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Mevlude Akbulut-Yuksel & Mutlu Yuksel, 2015. "The Long-Term Direct and External Effects of Jewish Expulsions in Nazi Germany," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(3), pages 58-85, August.
    8. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David Weil, 1990. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," Working Papers 1990-24, Brown University, Department of Economics.
    9. Robert J. Barro, 2001. "Human Capital and Growth," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(2), pages 12-17, May.
    10. Lily H. Fang & Josh Lerner & Chaopeng Wu, 2017. "Intellectual Property Rights Protection, Ownership, and Innovation: Evidence from China," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(7), pages 2446-2477.
    11. Marianne Bertrand & Antoinette Schoar, 2003. "Managing with Style: The Effect of Managers on Firm Policies," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1169-1208.
    12. N. Gregory Mankiw & David Romer & David N. Weil, 1992. "A Contribution to the Empirics of Economic Growth," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 107(2), pages 407-437.
    13. Amy Dittmar & Ran Duchin, 2016. "Looking in the Rearview Mirror: The Effect of Managers' Professional Experience on Corporate Financial Policy," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 29(3), pages 565-602.
    14. Antoinette Schoar & Luo Zuo, 2017. "Shaped by Booms and Busts: How the Economy Impacts CEO Careers and Management Styles," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 30(5), pages 1425-1456.
    15. Meng, Xin & Gregory, R G, 2002. "The Impact of Interrupted Education on Subsequent Educational Attainment: A Cost of the Chinese Cultural Revolution," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 50(4), pages 935-959, July.
    16. Ulrike Malmendier & Geoffrey Tate & Jon Yan, 2011. "Overconfidence and Early‐Life Experiences: The Effect of Managerial Traits on Corporate Financial Policies," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 66(5), pages 1687-1733, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Qing Wan & Xiaoke Cheng & Kam C. Chan & Shenghao Gao, 2021. "Born to innovate? The birth‐order effect of CEOs on corporate innovation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1846-1888, October.
    2. Meiling Kang & Yucheng Li & Zhongkuang Zhao & Minjuan Zheng & Han Wu, 2022. "Does Human Capital Homogeneously Improve the Corporate Innovation: Evidence from China’s Higher Education Expansion in the Late 1990s," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, September.
    3. Jiekuan Zhang & Yan Zhang, 2023. "Examining the effects of economic growth pressure on green total factor productivity: evidence from China," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 56(6), pages 4309-4337, December.
    4. Yang, Bo & Ma, Fang & Deng, Weihua & Pi, Yang, 2022. "Digital inclusive finance and rural household subsistence consumption in China," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 627-642.
    5. Joan Costa-i-Font & Jorge García-Hombrados & Anna Nicińska, 2020. "Long-Lasting Effects of Communist Indoctrination in School: Evidence from Poland," CESifo Working Paper Series 8766, CESifo.
    6. Changrong Wang & Lufeng Gou & Xuemei Li, 2022. "Is Education Beneficial to Environmentally Friendly Behaviors? Evidence from CEOs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(18), pages 1-21, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zhang, Xiaobei & Wang, Xiaojun, 2021. "Measures of human capital and the mechanics of economic growth," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Valerio Mendoza, Octasiano Miguel & Borsi, Mihály Tamás & Comim, Flavio, 2022. "Human capital dynamics in China: Evidence from a club convergence approach," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Qing Wan & Xiaoke Cheng & Kam C. Chan & Shenghao Gao, 2021. "Born to innovate? The birth‐order effect of CEOs on corporate innovation," Journal of Business Finance & Accounting, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(9-10), pages 1846-1888, October.
    4. Jialun Yang & Frank Y. Feng, 2020. "Engineer CEOs and Corporate Innovation," Journal of Applied Finance & Banking, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 10(6), pages 1-5.
    5. Hou, Xiaohui & Wang, Bo & Lian, Jiale & Ke, Kong-lin, 2021. "Do CEO's early-life marketization experiences affect the innovation behavior of SMEs?," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    6. Enkhtaivan, Bolortuya & Davaadorj, Zagdbazar, 2021. "Do they recall their past? CEOs’ liquidity policies across firms as they switch jobs," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    7. Kong, Dongmin & Zhang, Bohui & Zhang, Jian, 2022. "Higher education and corporate innovation," Journal of Corporate Finance, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Nikos Benos & Nikolaos Mylonidis & Stefania Zotou, 2017. "Estimating production functions for the US states: the role of public and human capital," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 52(2), pages 691-721, March.
    9. Tran, Nguyen Van & Alauddin, Mohammad & Tran, Quyet Van, 2019. "Labour quality and benefits reaped from global economic integration: An application of dynamic panel SGMM estimators," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 92-106.
    10. Jinzhao Chen, 2015. "Interprovincial Competitiveness and Economic Growth: Evidence from Chinese Provincial Data (1992–2008)," Pacific Economic Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 388-414, August.
    11. Alessandro Bucciol & Alessio Hu & Luca Zarri, 2017. "The Effects of Prior Shocks on Managerial Risk Taking: Evidence from Italian Professional Soccer," Working Papers 17/2017, University of Verona, Department of Economics.
    12. Tian, Binbin & Lin, Chao & Zhang, Wenwen & Feng, Chen, 2022. "Tax Incentives, On-the-job Training, and Human Capital Accumulation: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    13. Valero, Anna & Van Reenen, John, 2019. "The economic impact of universities: Evidence from across the globe," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 53-67.
    14. Li, Tingting & Wang, Yong, 2018. "Growth channels of human capital: A Chinese panel data study," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 309-322.
    15. Dongmin Kong & Maobin Wang & Xiyu Zhang, 2018. "The effects of entrepreneurial long-term commitment on post-IPO performance: Chinese evidence," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 12(1), pages 1-18, December.
    16. Fleisher, Belton & Li, Haizheng & Zhao, Min Qiang, 2010. "Human capital, economic growth, and regional inequality in China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 215-231, July.
    17. Hagendorff, Jens & Saunders, Anthony & Steffen, Sascha & Vallascas, Francesco, 2021. "The wolves of Wall Street? Managerial attributes and bank risk," Journal of Financial Intermediation, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    18. Wu, Mingqin & Chen, Bin, 2016. "Assignment of provincial officials based on economic performance: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 38(C), pages 60-75.
    19. Cronqvist, Henrik & Yu, Frank, 2017. "Shaped by their daughters: Executives, female socialization, and corporate social responsibility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 126(3), pages 543-562.
    20. Claudia Custodio & Diogo Mendes & Daniel Metzger, 2021. "The impact of financial education of executives on financial practices of medium and large enterprises," NOVAFRICA Working Paper Series wp2105, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Nova School of Business and Economics, NOVAFRICA.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • I23 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Higher Education; Research Institutions
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:27107. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.