New Work on the Historical Political Economy of Asia

Session Submission Type: In-Person Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel highlights new work in the emergent literature on the historical political economy of Asia. We analyze long-run development patterns across a wide range of Asian historical contexts and dimensions. Each work makes use of novel micro-historical data and statistical methods of analysis. The first paper evaluates how the introduction of New World crops after 1500 due to the Columbian Exchange affected violent conflict across Asia. The second paper analyzes the nexus between elite power structures and military mobilization during the Taiping Rebellion in nineteenth-century China. The third paper evaluates how caste fragmentation and indentured emigration affected the political dynamics of the limited franchise elections in twentieth-century colonial India. The final paper analyzes the political and economic legacy of the village development program undertaken by the dictatorship in late twentieth-century South Korea. By adopting a rigorous historical perspective, this panel will improve our knowledge of the “fundamental” determinants of political and economic development in Asia.

Sub Unit

• Division 6: Political Economy

Individual Presentations

• The Columbian Exchange and Conflict in Asia - Mark Dincecco, University of Michigan

• The Nexus of Elites and War Mobilization: The Taiping Rebellion in China - Ruixue Jia, ucsd

• Franchise Expansion and Electoral Mobilization in Colonial India - Pavithra Suryanarayan, Johns Hopkins University

• The Authoritarian Legacies of a Village Development Program in South Korea - Ji Yeon (Jean) Hong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology

Chair

• Yuhua Wang Harvard University

Discussants

• Volha Charnysh Massachusetts Institute of Technology

• Francisco Garfias University of California, San Diego