Chan, Kenneth S.; Laffargue, Jean-Pierre - In: Review of Development Economics 18 (2014) 1, pp. 13-28
This paper offers an explanation of why, in Imperial China, the merchant class expanded and the economy modernized up to the 13th century, and why it entered into decline from the 14th century onward. The modernization of China required the accumulation of public capital and the building of good...