Events

Dr. Steffan Chi
Assistant Professor
Shenzhen Audencia Business School
Shenzhen University

We present a new source of gains from infrastructure, technology adoption. Through the lens of a heterogeneous agent model with trade and information frictions, we explore how infrastructure increases welfare through the endogenous adoption of a new agricultural technology—the American Cotton, a high-quality variety in the early 20th century China. Using historical data, the empirical tests reveal an increased adoption of the American cotton in a county that was connected to both the railway and telegraph networks, stemming from lowered take-up thresholds. As predicted by the model, with infrastructure connections, counties that were less suitable for cotton plantation and households with smaller land endowment saw larger increases in adoption of American cotton. The contribution of the additional technology adoption margin to the overall welfare gains from infrastructure is quantitatively large.

This is a joint seminar organized by HKU, CUHK, City U, HKUST and Lingnan U.

Please contact Xiameng PAN at xmpan@connect.hku.hk for registration.