Led by Professor Cameron Campbell, the Culture, Religion and Long-Term Consequences Research Cluster explores Confucianism as economic institutions, shedding light on its contributions throughout Chinese history and its paradoxical role in modernisation.
The role of culture in development has received much attention in academia and policymaking (Nunn, 2012). However, little is known about how China’s long-term performance has been shaped by what is now referred to as Confucianism, which began developing approximately 2,500 years ago. As a way of life, Confucianism formed the social, moral and institutional foundation of China. Confucianism has long been viewed as a culture or even a religion rather than a set of economic institutions. The Culture, Religion and Long-Term Consequences Research Cluster investigates Confucianism as a set of economic institutions, focusing in particular on the roles of interpersonal resource-pooling and risk-sharing performed by lineage organisations structured according to Confucian principles. By doing so, the cluster aims to shed new light on the contributions of Confucianism in Chinese history.
This paper examines the causal effect of political legitimacy on stability, using the historical case of Imperial China. Chinese rulers ascribed their legitimacy to a heavenly mandate. Calamities like earthquakes were considered to be a sign of weakened approval, making quakes a proxy for a negative legitimacy shock. I use quake-induced minor shaking (i.e., strong enough to be felt, but too weak to cause material damage) to demonstrate that legitimacy shocks cause more conflicts. I examine whether quakes serve as a coordination device to overcome collective action problems.
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