How did the telegraph improve market integration in late imperial China? We exploit differences in the exogenous timing of telegraph construction in different prefectures from 1870 to 1911. The empirical results show that the arrival of the telegraph within a prefecture pair reduced the ratio of...

How much did the telegraph improve market integration in imperial China? We exploit differences in the timing of telegraph construction in different prefectures in the late 19th to the early 20th centuries to show that telegraph presence in both prefectures decreased the monthly grain price...

This paper evaluates the impacts of China's massive drinking water program on labor reallocation and rural development. Using representative survey data, we find that improved access to drinking water at the village level significantly increased off-farm employment and household labor income....