Classicism and Modern Growth

The Shadow of the Sages

Bibliographic Data

ID5753405
AuthorsChicheng Ma (0000-0002-4198-630X, University of Hong Kong, corresponding author)
Year2024
Volume84
Issue2
Pages395-431
Publication date2024-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueThe Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0022050724000111
OpenAlexW4393990404
LanguageEN
Citations received3
References cited33

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

Aesthetics · Art · Classicism · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Shadow (psychology) · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Psychology

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