Co-authored Paper by Professors Jiang Mingming and Zhang Bo Published in Economica

Recently, the academic paper Beyond cultural norms: how does historical rice farming affect modern firms’ family control?, completed by Professor Jiang Mingming, Associate Professor Zhang Bo from the School of Economics, Shandong University, and Associate Professor Fan Chenchen from the School of Finance and Taxation, Shandong University of Finance and Economics, was officially published in Economica, an internationally renowned economics journal. Professor Jiang Mingming is the corresponding author, and Associate Professor Zhang Bo and Associate Professor Fan Chenchen are co-first authors.

Private enterprises with family governance are an important driving force for China’s rapid economic growth after the reform and opening up. Existing literature believes that the family governance model commonly adopted by private enterprises is a cultural phenomenon rooted in traditional rural society. This paper further explores the historical and agricultural origins behind this cultural interpretation. Based on the China Private Enterprise Survey data, this paper uses the proportion of rice planting area to measure rice farming practices, and examines its impact on the degree of family control of modern private enterprises and its mechanism. The study finds that historical rice farming practices can increase the degree of family control of modern private enterprises by strengthening family ties. This paper not only deepens the understanding of the cultural causes of family governance of private enterprises from the perspective of crop planting methods, but also has enlightenment significance for the governance and transformation and development of modern private enterprises.

Zhang Bo is an Associate Professor at the School of Economics, Shandong University, and a Young Scholar of the Future Plan of Shandong University. His research interests include inclusive finance, culture and finance, and China’s financial history. He has presided over national and provincial/ministerial-level projects such as the General Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Youth Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Youth Program of the Humanities and Social Sciences of the Ministry of Education. He has published nearly 20 papers in well-known journals such as Economic Research (Quarterly), Journal of Financial Research, China Industrial Economics, Economica, and Journal of Banking and Finance. His research results have won the second and third prizes of Shandong Provincial Social Science Outstanding Achievement Awards, and his submitted review articles have received affirmative instructions from the main leaders of the Shandong Provincial Party Committee.

Jiang Mingming is a Professor at the School of Economics, Shandong University, and a Young Scholar of the Future Plan of Shandong University. His research interests include macroeconomics, macro finance and applied econometrics. His research findings have been published in well-known international journals such as Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Macroeconomic Dynamics, Journal of Banking and Finance, Economica, and Journal of Environmental Economics and Management. He has presided over many national and provincial/ministerial-level projects such as the General Program of the National Social Science Fund and the Youth Program of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.

Founded in 1921, Economica is an internationally renowned economics journal hosted by the London School of Economics and Political Science, and has published representative works of famous economists such as Coase R. H. and Phillips A. W.

Link to the paper: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ecca.12519