Political Governance and Urban Systems: A Persistent Shock on Population Distribution from Capital Relocation in Ancient China, Regional Science and Urban Economics, 2024. Vol (108)
Political governance and urban systems:
A persistent shock on population distribution from capital relocation in ancient China☆
Ming Lu a , Haijun Ou b , Yuejun Zhong c,*
a Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Antai College of Economics & Management, and China Institute for Urban Governance, China
b China Construction Bank (Chengdu), Remote Intelligent Banking Center, China
c East China Normal University, School of Economics and Management, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China
ABSTRACT： This paper exploits a quasi-natural experiment with the exogenous shock of capital relocation in ancient China from Nanjing to Beijing in 1421 CE during the Ming Dynasty, to investigate the relationship between political governance and urban systems. We constructed a unique historical panel dataset that measures population distributions among Chinese counties spanning over centuries. Using a difference-in-differences identification strategy, our results reveal that after the capital relocation, the effect of localities’ distance to Beijing, the newly established capital at that time, on local population size turns to be significantly negative. Moreover, these effects still persisted in the next dynasty and modern China. Furthermore, the results indicate that the impact of the capital relocation on population distribution occur through two major channels of political governance: delivery and national security. The causal relationship between capital relocation and population distribution is demonstrated to be robust using a variety of identification strategies and robustness checks.
In contrast to the occident, the cities in China and throughout the orient lacked political autonomy. The oriental city was not a “polis” in the sense of Antiquity, and it was not a “commune” with political privileges of its own (p.13). The prosperity of the Chinese city did not primarily depend upon the citizens’ enterprising spirit in economic and political ventures but rather upon the imperial administration (p.16). ——The Religion of China, Confucianism and Taoism by Weber (1951)