KEJU and Science: Based on the Perspective of Human Capital

The traditional view holds that the Keju examination system hindered technological development in Chinese history. However, this paper presents different findings. Firstly, using historical panel data from 580 to 1915, this paper empirically analyzes the impact of the Keju examination system on ancient technological development, finding a significant positive correlation between the number of successful exam candidates and the number of technological figures. To address endogeneity issues, this paper uses the interaction between the distance between each region and the examination location and the total number of civil service exam recruits as instrumental variables, conducting a two-stage least squares estimation, which also confirms the above conclusion. Secondly, this paper further analyzes the heterogeneity of the impact of the Keju examination system, finding that it has a stronger crowding-out effect on technology among high-level talent, while the higher the proportion of practical policy in the examination, the stronger the promotion effect of the Keju examination system on technology. Finally, this paper attempts to analyze the causes of the "Needham Puzzle," finding that: firstly, the positive impact of the Keju examination system on technology weakened in the Ming and Qing dynasties, which may be due to the increasing rigidness of examination content and methods, while foreign technology promoted technological innovation. Secondly, the disciplinary and innovation structure of technological development also hindered modern technological progress. Thirdly, areas with more civil service exam talent have a significant positive impact on modern human capital accumulation, indicating that the promotion effect of the Keju examination system on human capital accumulation is continuous.