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Taisu Zhang, Legal and Economic Diversion
Taisu Zhang, Legal and Economic Diversion
Date：2023-07-03
On May 22, 2023, Global Faculty Professor and Yale University Professor of Law Zhang Taisu gave a lecture on "Law and Modern Economic Divergence." In his lecture, Prof. Zhang Taisu showed the positive impetus of state building on capital accumulation and economies of scale through comparative observation of the development of several major economies in the East and West. He also revealed the benign role of modern polity and the legal institutional construction driven by it on economic development.
The lecture focused on the divergent roles of legal and economic institutions in the economic history of pre-industrial and early industrialization. In the past three decades of academic discussion, the mainstream of research in Europe and the United States has focused on the three major issues of constitutionalism, decentralization, and property rights protection. However, Prof. Zhang Taisu argued that these studies have often neglected the benign role of the modern polity and the legal institutional constructs that it drives for economic development.
Prof. Zhang Taisu believes that a comparative look at the development of several major economies in Eurasia clearly shows the positive impact of state-building on capital accumulation and economies of scale. The economic divergence and convergence between East and West can also be broadly explained in this way.
The lecture focused on the divergent roles of legal and economic institutions in the economic history of pre-industrial and early industrialization. In the past three decades of academic discussion, the mainstream of research in Europe and the United States has focused on the three major issues of constitutionalism, decentralization, and property rights protection. However, Prof. Zhang Taisu argued that these studies have often neglected the benign role of the modern polity and the legal institutional constructs that it drives for economic development.
Prof. Zhang Taisu believes that a comparative look at the development of several major economies in Eurasia clearly shows the positive impact of state-building on capital accumulation and economies of scale. The economic divergence and convergence between East and West can also be broadly explained in this way.
- Speaker Profile：
Taisu Zhang is a Professor of Law at Yale Law School and works on comparative legal and economic history, private law theory, and contemporary Chinese law and politics. He is the author of two books: The Laws and Economics of Confucianism: Kinship and Property in Pre-Industrial China and England (Cambridge University Press 2017) and The Ideological Foundations of Qing Taxation (Cambridge University Press 2023).
To learn more about the event, please check out: https://www.law.pku.edu.cn/xwzx/xwdt/150331.htm