Doctoral Dissertation Research in Economics: Modern Financial Markets and Macroeconomic Growth in Historical Context

这项博士论文研究改进拨款将用于研究现代金融市场和宏观经济增长之间的关系的数据收集。目标是了解一个充满活力和竞争力的金融体系在促进经济发展方面可以发挥的作用。PI将利用历史记录开发一个新的数据集，并将使用这些数据来测试有关金融市场、政治和经济发展之间关系的理论。研究结果将有助于我们理解经济自由化对全球经济福祉的好处。博士生将把精力集中在一个具体的有前途的案例上：1933年至1942年的四川中国。在此期间，中国努力建设一个能够积累资本和工业化所需资金的金融部门。四川是中国的人口最多的省份，当地政府试验了法定货币和扩大私人银行部门资本基础的举措。该项目将使用档案记录来构建关于四川战前金融体系的数据，包括地区利率、汇率、地方政府债务价格和未偿还钞票余额，以及衡量政治和基础设施格局的变量。该团队将利用这些数据来确定私营企业在刺激四川早期经济增长方面的作用。因此，这一结果可能会改变我们对全球经济自由化重要性的理解。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This doctoral dissertation research improvement grant will fund data collection for a study of the relationship between between modern financial markets and macroeconomic growth. The goal is to understand the role a vigorous and competitive financial system can play in facilitating economic development. The PI will develop a new data set using historical records and will use the data to test theories about the relationship between financial markets, politics, and economic development. The results will help us understand the advantages of economic liberalization for global economic well-being.The doctoral student will focus his efforts on a specific promising case: Sichuan, China from 1933 to 1942. During this period, China made efforts to build a financial sector capable of accumulating capital and funding needed industrialization. Sichuan was China's most populous province, and the local government experimented with fiat currency and initiatives to expand the capital base of the private banking sector. The project will use archival records to construct data on Sichaun's prewar financial system, including regional interest rates, exchange rates, prices of local government debt, and balances of banknotes outstanding, as well as variables measure the political and infrastructure landscape. The team will use the data to determine the role of private enterprise in spurring the early stages of economic growth in Sichuan. The results may therefore be transformative for our understanding of the importance of economic liberalization around the globe.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.