Persistent Effects of Ancient Chinese Academy on Knowledge-Intensive Business Services (KIBS)

Description

This project examines the long-run influence of historical institutions on the behavior of modern agents, focusing specifically on Shuyuan (ancient academy for advanced education) and the performance of KIBS. The study utilizes datasets from CNIPA, Qichacha, and Harvard CBDB, encompassing 417 patent attorney/advisory firms, 2957 Shuyuans, and 5580 historical peer-based networks. To improve the conventional Shuyuan measure, we refine its measurement by adjusting the influence of Shuyuan using associated high-ranked civil officials’ peer-based network counts during Ming and Qing dynasties. The results indicate that the ancient official network-adjusted Shuyuan has a historically long-lasting positive effect on the productivity of Chinese mainland KIBS firms. Further, it is also more significant if Shuyuan is merely treated as a moderator to the market diversification strategy of KIBS firms instead.

Period	1 Jun 2024 → 29 Aug 2024