Book contents
- Catching Up to America
- Catching Up to America
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Just How Rapid Is China’s Rise?
- 2 Explaining China’s Rise
- 3 Do Institutions Rule?
- 4 Savings and China’s Investment-Led Growth
- 5 The Role of Education
- 6 Technological Progress and Innovation
- 7 Confucian Culture as the Key Differentiating Factor
- 8 Why Is China Slowing Down?
- 9 Catching Up to America in a Post–COVID-19 World
- Appendix
- References
- Index
7 - Confucian Culture as the Key Differentiating Factor
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 August 2021
- Catching Up to America
- Catching Up to America
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction
- 1 Just How Rapid Is China’s Rise?
- 2 Explaining China’s Rise
- 3 Do Institutions Rule?
- 4 Savings and China’s Investment-Led Growth
- 5 The Role of Education
- 6 Technological Progress and Innovation
- 7 Confucian Culture as the Key Differentiating Factor
- 8 Why Is China Slowing Down?
- 9 Catching Up to America in a Post–COVID-19 World
- Appendix
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 7 further elaborates and defends the idea that it is Confucian culture’s emphasis on hard work, savings, and education that has enabled China (and other East Asian economies influenced by Confucian culture) to rapidly accumulate both physical and human capital and to absorb existing Western technologies and develop indigenous innovation capacity better than other developing countries, leading to its rapid economic rise. It addresses some of the common objections to the cultural theory as well as some misunderstandings of the theory. This chapter also shows that there has been a cultural awakening in economics in the past two decades and that an increasing number of leading economists have explored both theoretically and empirically the role of culture in economic growth and development. The last section of the chapter considers the role of some other Confucian values such as benevolence and trustworthiness in helping to promote economic growth in a society with a weak rule of law.
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- Information
- Catching Up to AmericaCulture, Institutions, and the Rise of China, pp. 156 - 175Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021