Minority Bureaucrats’ Networks and Career Progression: Evidence from the Chinese Maritime Customs Service

Yan Hu () and Stephan Maurer
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Yan Hu: Copenhagen Business School

No 18689, IZA Discussion Papers from IZA Network @ LISER

Abstract: Do minorities benefit from social networks? In this paper, we study this question using the historical example of China’s first modern bureaucratic organization, the Chinese Maritime Customs Service. Drawing on newly digitized personnel records from 1876-1911, we first show that the Chinese clerks employed by the service were predominantly Cantonese. Using the plausibly exogenous transfers of clerks across stations, we then estimate that a non-Cantonese (minority) clerk benefited significantly from meeting at least one colleague from his same province and dialect. Such connections led to faster promotion and a 5.6% salary increase, with even stronger effects when meeting a clerk who was either senior or of high quality.

Keywords: Chinese Maritime Customs Service; social connections; wages; promotion; minorities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J15 J31 J45 N35 N75 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026-05
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