This study explores the long-term stability of regional entrepreneurial cultures over extended periods. We employ provincial panel data from China documenting the regional distribution of entrepreneurial activities during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644) and private firm activities in 1992–2012. The estimations confirm a significant association between the regional distribution of historical and current measures of entrepreneurship, supporting: 1) the long-term stability of distinct cultures, even with disruptive political changes; and 2) the adaptability of entrepreneurial activities to changing institutional arrangements and relative payoff structures. These results are robust to numerous alternative explanations, including geography, agglomeration advantages, education, and technology.
Sonja Opper is Gad Rausing Professor of International Economics at the School of Economics and Management at Lund University.
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