Economic Growth in the Lower Yangzi Region of China in 1911–1937: A Quantitative and Historical Analysis
通过重建1933年长江下游两省的GDP，发现其人均收入比全国平均水平高55%，并在1914-1918至1931-1936年间经历了与日本及其东亚殖民地相当的增长和结构变化。
Through a detailed reconstruction of 1933 GDP for the two provinces in China's most advanced region, the Lower Yangzi, I show that their per capita income was 55 percent higher than China's average, and they had experienced a growth and structural change between 1914–1918 and 1931–1936 comparable to contemporaneous Japan and her East Asian colonies. This article highlights the unique political institution of early-twentieth-century Shanghai as a city state, with its rule of law and secure property rights laying the foundation for economic growth in the Lower Yangzi with long-term impact throughout East Asia.