Wiring China
The impact of telegraph construction on grain market integration in late imperial China, 1870-1911
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3445239 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Yu Hao (0000-0001-8394-4215, School of Economics Peking University, corresponding author), Yuanzhe Li (0000-0001-7530-8286, Guanghua School of Management Peking University), John V C Nye (0000-0001-9316-9929, George Mason University) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 75 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 857-880 |
| Publication date | 2022-08-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Economic History Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0013-0117 • E-ISSN: 1468-0289 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1111/ehr.13119 |
| OpenAlex | W3194804558 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 27 |
How did the telegraph improve market integration in late imperial China? This study exploits differences in the exogenous timing of telegraph construction in different prefectures from 1870 to 1911. The empirical results show that the arrival of the telegraph within a prefecture pair reduced the ratio of the two prefectures' monthly high-grade rice prices by 6.6 percentage points in nine southern Chinese provinces, or 17.2 per cent of the mean of the dependent variable. The main results are robust to controlling for institutional or transportation changes occurring during the same period, to using an alternative measure of market integration, to using prices of mid-grade and low-grade rice, and to excluding outliers with low data quality. In addition, the effect of the telegraph was stronger for prefecture pairs in which information transmission was more costly, and traditional long-distance traders played an important role in the telegraph's promotion of market integration. In conclusion, our findings help us understand how a new information technology enhanced market integration in a premodern agrarian society with an established commercial network
Agrarian society · Agricultural economics · Agriculture · Business · China · Economics · Exploit · Geography · Market integration · Political science · Promotion (chess) · Computer Science · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Media Influence and Politics
Mid-Ch'ing Rice Markets and Trade
Town and Country in Europe, 1300–1800
Information from Markets Near and Far
The clan and the corporation
The effect of the Internet on international trade
From Divergence to Convergence
Markets in China and Europe on the Eve of the Industrial Revolution
Economic Developments, 1644–1800
Tigers, Rice, Silk, and Silt
The Digital Provide
Ruggedness
Those Who Know Most
The Economics of Information
Chinese dominance of treaty port commerce and its implications, 1860–1875
The Law of One Price without the Border
Chinese Merchant Guilds
How much do we know about market integration in Europe? 1
Integration and Disintegration in North China's Grain Markets, 1738-1911
Marketing and Social Structure in Rural China, Part I
Steamship Enterprise In Nineteenth-Century China
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,25 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |