Involution or pursuit of profit? —A reassessment of Chinese sericulture during the 1840s–1940s

Li Zhang ()
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Li Zhang: Institute of Economics, School of Economics, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China

Frontiers of Economics in China-Selected Publications from Chinese Universities, 2007, vol. 2, issue 4, 558-593

Abstract: With new data and a new methodology, this paper reassesses the forces that led to the rise of Chinese sericulture in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The study challenges the prevailing view that Chinese peasants switched to sericulture in order to gain a higher aggregate family income at the cost of a lower net income per workday. Based on a case study of Wuxi, the research indicates that until the late 1920s, sericulture had provided peasants not only higher aggregate income, but also higher returns on labor. Peasants were more pulled by higher profit than by high population pressure to switch to sericulture.

Keywords: involution; incentive; total net family income; net income per workday (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N33 N55 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2007
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fec:journl:v:2:y:2007:i:4:p:558-593

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