The Enduring Legacy of Educational Institutions: Evidence from Hyanggyo in Pre-Modern Korea

Yeonha Jung (), Minki Kim () and Munseob Lee ()
Additional contact information
Minki Kim: University of Mannheim
Munseob Lee: University of California, San Diego

No 18123, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This study examines the long-term impact of Hyanggyo, state-sponsored educational institutions established during the early Joseon Dynasty in Korea (1392-1592), on human capital accumulation. Although these schools largely ceased functioning as educational centers by the late 16th century, their influence has endured to the present day. Drawing on a newly constructed township-level dataset, we find a robust positive association between historical exposure to Hyanggyo and modern educational attainment. This relationship appears to be driven by enduring local demand for education, supported by three complementary findings. First, regions with greater historical exposure experienced larger gains in Japanese literacy during colonial era school expansions. Second, residents in these areas express stronger pro-education attitudes today. Third, historically exposed regions exhibited lower fertility rates, consistent with a quantity–quality tradeoff in parental investment. Together, our findings highlight the lasting legacy of early educational institutions.

Keywords: Hyanggyo; Human capital; historical institutions; Joseon; cultural transmission (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I23 J24 N35 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-dev, nep-edu, nep-his and nep-sea
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://docs.iza.org/dp18123.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18123

Ordering information: This working paper can be ordered from
IZA, Margard Ody, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA) IZA, P.O. Box 7240, D-53072 Bonn, Germany. Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Holger Hinte ().