Laws and Economics of Confucianism - Kinship and Property in Preindustrial China and England

Zhang argues that property institutions in preindustrial China and England were a cause of China's lagging development in preindustrial times.

List of contents

1. 'Dian' sales in Qing and Republican China; 2. Mortgages in early modern England; 3. Kinship, social hierarchy, and institutional divergence (theories); 4. Kinship, social hierarchy, and institutional divergence (empirics); 5. Kinship hierarchies in Late Imperial history; 6. Property institutions and agricultural capitalism; Conclusion; Index.

About the author

Taisu Zhang is an Associate Professor of Law at Yale Law School, Connecticut and works on comparative legal history - specifically, economic institutions in modern China and early modern Western Europe - comparative law, property law, and contemporary Chinese Law. This is his first book. In dissertation form, it was the recipient of Yale University's Arthur and Mary Wright Dissertation Prize and the American Society for Legal History's Kathryn T. Preyer Award. Zhang is a founding board member of the International Society for Chinese Law and History.

Summary

This book explores how property institutions in preindustrial China and England differed, and how those differences changed the trajectories of agricultural production. Tying together previously separated fields of cultural and legal history and institutional economics, it will be of interest to scholars of history, law, sociology, and economics.

Additional text

'Taisu Zhang has taken a bold leap into the heart of the Great Divergence debate. Combining the theoretical tools of law and economics, the insights of a comparative legal historian, and the skills of a meticulous archival investigator, Zhang offers a new take on norms governing land alienation in early modern China and England and their impact on economic development.' Madeleine Zelin, Dean Lung Professor of Chinese Studies, Columbia University, New York

Product details

• Authors: Taisu Zhang, Taisu (Yale University Zhang
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Paperback / Softback
• Released: 31.05.2019
• EAN: 9781316506288
• ISBN: 978-1-316-50628-8
• No. of pages: 318
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society; Cambridge Studies in Economics, Choice, and Society; Cambridge Studies in Economics
• Subjects: Non-fiction book > History > Miscellaneous; Social sciences, law, business > Business > Economics; China, Economics, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economics / General, HISTORY / Asia / China, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Development / Economic Development, economic growth, Western Europe, Asian History, Development economics & emerging economies, Development economics and emerging economies, Western Continental Europe