Center for East Asia Studies at the University of Pennsylvania

We examine whether the spread of Protestantism in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had a persistent impact on China’s recent economic growth and, if it did, what mechanisms were involved. Combining China’s county-level data on Protestant density before 1920 and socioeconomic indicators in 2000, we find persistent positive effects of historical missionary activities on contemporary growth. We further find that although improvements in education and health care account for a sizable portion of the total effects, other channels such as transformed social values may also matter. To quantify this mechanism, we use the data of Chinese industrial firms during 1999–2007 and find that the intensity of Protestant activities in 1920 significantly reduced the extent of corporate tax avoidance among. Further analyses of a survey-based dataset and a proprietary peer-to-peer lending dataset show that Protestantism fostered social capital that persists in the long run. The Protestant missionaries started the trend to educate women in the 19th century China, paving Chinese women’s way into higher education and professional services. Using a hand-collected dataset of college students from 1928-1938, we show that the Protestant missions improved gender equality in higher education. Furthermore, the increase in educational attainment led to a higher number of female doctors and civil servants in the short run and a higher gender ratio in skilled occupations in the long run.

Dr. Se Yan is a research fellow and an associate professor at the Guanghua School of Management, Peking University, and deputy director of Institute of Economic Policy Research, Peking University (IEPR-PKU). He currently serves as the executive director of the International Economic History Association. He is also the Changjiang Young Scholar awarded by the Ministry of Education, China. He was also the chief economist at the Founder Securities and the senior economist at the Standard Chartered Bank, heading mainland China macro research. He completed his PhD in Economics at UCLA, and his B.A. and M.A. in economics at Peking University. Dr. Yan's research specialties are economic history, macroeconomics, and the Chinese economy. His papers have been published at "International Economic Review", “Journal of International Economics”, "Explorations in Economic History" and other international journals. Se Yan leads the IEPR-PKU, where he frequently provides consulting services to China’s central government.