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Article: Hedging desperation: How kinship networks reduced cannibalism in historical China

TitleHedging desperation: How kinship networks reduced cannibalism in historical China
Authors
KeywordsCannibalism
Confucianism
Kinship networks
Resource pooling
Risk mitigation
Violence
Issue Date12-Apr-2024
PublisherElsevier
Citation
Journal of Comparative Economics, 2024 How to Cite?
Abstract

Survival cannibalism persisted across human societies until recently. What drove the decline in cannibalism and other forms of violence? Using data from the 1470–1910 period, this paper documents that in historical China, the Confucian clan—an institutionalized kinship network—acted as an informal internal market to facilitate intra-clan resource pooling and risk-sharing, thus reducing the need for cannibalism during times of drought-related famine. The risk mitigation role of the clan remains robust after controlling for economic development and other factors and ruling out alternative channels. Thus, kinship networks and their associated culture contributed to human civilizational development before the advent of formal markets.


Persistent Identifierhttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/342762
ISSN
2023 Impact Factor: 2.8
2023 SCImago Journal Rankings: 1.504

 

DC FieldValueLanguage
dc.contributor.authorChen, Zhiwu-
dc.contributor.authorLin, Zhan-
dc.contributor.authorZhang, Xiaoming-
dc.date.accessioned2024-04-24T02:46:59Z-
dc.date.available2024-04-24T02:46:59Z-
dc.date.issued2024-04-12-
dc.identifier.citationJournal of Comparative Economics, 2024-
dc.identifier.issn0147-5967-
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10722/342762-
dc.description.abstract<p>Survival cannibalism persisted across human societies until recently. What drove the decline in cannibalism and other forms of violence? Using data from the 1470–1910 period, this paper documents that in historical China, the Confucian clan—an institutionalized kinship network—acted as an informal internal market to facilitate intra-clan resource pooling and risk-sharing, thus reducing the need for cannibalism during times of drought-related famine. The risk mitigation role of the clan remains robust after controlling for economic development and other factors and ruling out alternative channels. Thus, kinship networks and their associated culture contributed to human civilizational development before the advent of formal markets.<br></p>-
dc.languageeng-
dc.publisherElsevier-
dc.relation.ispartofJournal of Comparative Economics-
dc.subjectCannibalism-
dc.subjectConfucianism-
dc.subjectKinship networks-
dc.subjectResource pooling-
dc.subjectRisk mitigation-
dc.subjectViolence-
dc.titleHedging desperation: How kinship networks reduced cannibalism in historical China-
dc.typeArticle-
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.jce.2024.01.003-
dc.identifier.scopuseid_2-s2.0-85190305950-
dc.identifier.issnl0147-5967-

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