How to Win a Scholarship to University, part 3

How to Win a Scholarship to University, part 3

Recap of previous posts on how to win a scholarship 

In the previous two posts here on JC Economics Essays on how to successfully attain an undergraduate scholarship to university, I blogged about being prepared and ready for opportunities by starting early, studying hard, being polite and professional to teachers, tutors, and school administrators, and taking on leadership and volunteer or community positions, and how to plan for a scholarship to university. There were many questions that students would have to consider before applying for any scholarship (for a full recap, read this post on planning for a scholarship). 

Now, the next step is to craft a perfect personal statement, often in response to an essay prompt or some guidelines or guiding questions.  

Crafting the Perfect Personal Statement

How do we craft the perfect personal statement that would help a student gain entry into a prestigious university? 

This post here on my JC Economics Essays website will share some tips and techniques for drafting an excellent personal statement. 

In this post, we will refer to a personal essay, a statement of intent, and other forms of writing as a personal statement (to me, that is the most common way of referring to this specific type of writing). 

While no one can guarantee that a student's personal statement would be the best (naturally), and it often depends on what the student had done earlier in his academic life (remember what I said about getting strong grades, leadership positions, and volunteer or community work experience), one can always make the best personal statement one can - and hopefully that would be able to impress the assessors. 

In other words, write as best as you can - and hope for the best. The work that you have done will be able to help you. Your essay will hopefully be lit up by the brilliance of your achievements and contributions. 

First and foremost, before you start writing your personal statement - have a plan. 

This is similar to my previous post. 

Have a plan. 

And as I said before, if students fail to plan, then they plan to fail. 

Determine what the question is asking, and then outline your answer. What do you need to include in the response? What do you plan to argue, explain, and give examples for? 

If the question is asking about defining moments in your life, reflect on a few defining moments and lay them out on paper. 

If the prompt is asking about your experiences and knowledge of PPE - Politics, Philosophy, and Economics - then focus your thoughts and ideas on Politics, Philosophy, and Economics. 

If the guiding questions are more general, and asking you to focus on some ideas that have intrigued you, think about what books or articles you have read that really impressed you, impacted you, motivated you, or affected you. If the topic is on economics books - be sure that you start reflecting on economics books or journals that you have read. 

Second, be sure to bring in your strengths and knowledge into your response. 

This is a point worth repeating. 

The whole point of the personal statement is for you to show or demonstrate your strengths and knowledge into your response. The administrators and assessors cannot read your mind, so you will have to show them your strengths and knowledge. 

One way is to do it through citing your experiences, such as internships you have attended, relevant courses that you have taken, or volunteer work in a related field that you have done. 

If you are applying for law school, writing about the strengths you found in yourself while working at an intern in a fast-paced law firm would be useful; if you are applying for an economics undergraduate degree, then write about the online learning you have done on Keynesian economics, and what you have learnt about the difference between Monetarism, Classical Economics, and Keynesian Economics; and if you are applying for a social policy or sociology degree, be sure to write about your extensive volunteer work and how that taught you about income inequality or inequity in society. 

Through these examples, bring out your strengths, your good points, and the areas of knowledge or expertise that you may have. 

Notice that this really depends on the preparation work that you should have done before planning for universities and scholarships - please refer to parts 1 and 2 which I wrote earlier. The useful materials there will help you. 

Third, edit relentlessly. 

I have had former students write their personal statement once, and then they wanted me to have a look. Much of their writing was woefully inadequate for entry to university. Edit, edit, and edit again. 

If you have written a first draft, just be sure that you know that it can be better. 

Remember: that which is written without much care is seldom read with pleasure. 

The greater the pleasure you get from reading something, the greater the effort that went into it. 

When editing, there are many things to take note of:

Did you write in the right tone and register? Are you being too informal, or overly formal? 

How accurate are the terms and phrases you are using in the personal statement? Were you the Chairman, or the Assistant Chairman? Did you win the Gold Award or the Silver Award? 

Did you clear all the typos and spelling mistakes? 

Have you ensured that there is consistency in the terms used? 

And a common point often missed out is - have you used the right language? 

If you are applying for a college degree in the USA, please write in American English. 

If you are writing a personal statement meant for a UK university, please write in British English. 

If you are writing a personal statement for the University Scholars Programme in Singapore - whether the NUS or the NTU one - then be sure to use British English as well, as that is what we use in Singapore. 

Remember the Biblical phrase: Those who can be trusted in little things can be trusted in great things. Essentially, if you have not used terms consistently, and cannot even write properly, how can the reader or assessor trust you? 

Fourth, emphasise meaning and significance, but be sure not to overstate your case.

This is important. 

Many students do not know how to emphasise the meaning and significance of what they have done. 

Consider the following examples of weak sentences (from actual students):

I was Chairperson of ABC committee, I was Vice President of XYZ sport, and I participated in the JJJ seminar in YYYY year. 

I was selected class Chairperson and I was tasked to do many activities. 

I am deeply interested in accountancy and want to change the world. 

The first sentence is a pure listing - where is the meaning and significance? A stronger way of writing would be: 

I was Chairperson of ABC committee, which I established in YYYY year. Even though I spent a lot of time starting up that new committee, I also played football and eventually rose through the ranks to become VP of the XYZ sporting team, which won three gold medals under my leadership. I headed the team in the JJJ seminar in YYYY, and we won third place for the first time in school history. 

The second sentence is weak because it comes across as passive and insignificant. Consider this instead: 

I was chosen to be class Chairperson in recognition of my contributions to the class, and I led many activities and initiatives, such as ... 

The third is just interesting... but could be stronger and better. In the end, I rewrote my student's entire personal statement:

I am deeply interested in studying accountancy at university because my father is an accountant and I want to follow in his footsteps. He once told me that accountancy could change the world. I was intrigued by his unusual comment. How could accountancy be as important or relevant as economics or finance? And my father said to me... 

Fourth, ask people who know to help you - but take their advice with caution. 

Always remember that there is great value in asking people to help you. 

They can share their advice and knowledge. They can point out areas for improvement. They can share ideas and pointers. And if they have applied to the same scholarship before, or the same university course, they can help you. Do your research and interview people; ask them for tips and tricks; and learn from others. 

But do take all advice with caution. 

Some students told me that they were told to use big words and fancy phrases. While that may work with some US universities, it does not work with UK universities as the British are often more understated and subtle. 

Yet others have told me that the personal statement should be full of sob stories and problems that one had to overcome. Yes, there is some value in showing good values of resilience and strength. 

However, do not overdo this. Also, if many people write like this, how do you differentiate yourself from the rest of them? 

What is your unique selling point if you are another one of the sob stories? 

Fifth, respect convention, but be unique and differentiated

Also, while it is convention to write in the conclusion "I would appreciate the opportunity to study at your fine institution", and some coaches and trainers even use similar phrases to coach and train their students, consider other ways of writing. 

There is nothing wrong with convention. However, be unique even while you are conventional. 

"Studying in London is a dream come true, and I hope to be given a chance to do so" could be reframed as "London is an exciting city - studying at the London School of Economics would be a double-win for me", which is more unique and edgy. 

Or perhaps "at your fine institution" could be phrased as "As the famous economist Keynes studied in this college and benefited from a first-rate education, it would be my privilege to have this same honour". 

You get what I mean - yes, by all means stick to convention, but what is your unique selling point? 

What is your unique way of writing and communicating? What is "you" about this? 

It is also convention to say that you are reading Economics because you are interested in it. I think everyone would say that (some are actually telling the truth). 

Do not write "I am interested in economics". A better and stronger way of saying it is "Reading Milton Friedman's book on XYZ opened my eyes to some economics topics, and sparked my interest in the subject". 

More information will be coming in future posts. 

For more tips and techniques on how to raise your chances of getting a top scholarship to university, stay tuned for more. Thank you for reading, and cheers! 

JC Economics Essays -- I am currently writing on how to win a scholarship to university, for young and budding scholars to read undergraduate degrees. Thank you for reading and I hope these materials help you. 

How to Win a Scholarship to University, part 2

How to Win a Scholarship to University, part 2

In the previous post on how to win an undergraduate scholarship to enter university, I emphasised the importance of starting early, studying hard and ensuring good grades as a bare minimum, being polite and considerate to your teachers and school administrators, and taking on leadership roles and doing community service or voluntary work in the larger community. 

This advice or guidance is useful as a starting point.  

It can also be simply summed up simply as being ready, and as I heard Les Brown say before:

It is better to be prepared and not have one, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared. 

After doing the hard work of studying hard, being prepared and attentive in class, attending seminars, lectures, tutorials, and lessons - it is time to make all the preparation count. 

What is the next step on the way to winning a scholarship? 

The next step is called planning. 

As the famous saying goes, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. 

It's so important that I have to state it again. 

After you have done all the basics and have started early, you now need to plan and think through what you will need to win a scholarship to university. 

There are basically a few important things that you have to plan for to ensure that you are well-equipped and ready to apply for a scholarship to university. 

The best way of think of this stage is to think of the following questions, which will help you make your plans. 

Think of these questions as a checklist for your planning purposes. 

First, what university would you like to go to? 

This is not an easy question to answer at all. 

There are famous and branded universities in the USA, for example Ivy League universities. 

Ivy League colleges are considered the most prestigious in the USA. There are eight total colleges that are considered Ivy League, namely Brown University, Harvard University, Cornell University, Princeton University, Dartmouth University, Yale University, and Columbia University, and the University of Pennsylvania. Of all the institutions of higher learning, these elite universities are considered the most outstanding and sought-after.

There are also famous universities in the UK, like Oxbridge (i.e., Oxford or Cambridge) and other Russell Group universities, such as the London School of Economics and Political Science, King's College London, Imperial College, the University of Manchester, and so on. According to the Russell Group’s website, the 24 member universities (sometimes colleges) are world-class, research-intensive universities with their own unique and distinguishing characteristics, history, and ethos. The commonality is that these universities are committed to maintaining the best research, an outstanding teaching and learning experience for students, and unrivalled links with local and national business and the public sector. 

Singapore also has many strong local universities with global reach and impact - for example, the National University of Singapore (NUS) (and also its Duke-NUS Medical School and Yale-NUS College); Nanyang Technological University (NTU) (as well as the National Institute of Education, which sits within NTU); Singapore Management University (SMU); Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD); Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT); and the Singapore University of Social Sciences (SUSS). 

Some universities are stronger than others in certain degree courses; for example, LSE is very strong in Economics and is reputed to be one of the best in it. 

This brings us to our next question: 

Second, what university course would you like to apply for? 

There are many courses and degree programmes - double degree programmes; multi-disciplinary programmes; University Scholars Programmes; majors; minors; honours; and even non-honours. Bachelors of Arts; of Science; of Social Sciences. 

What university course would you like to apply for? 

What meets your talents, skills, and interests? 

What will be useful and helpful to you in the long run? 

There are many subjects. 

Since this website is basically about economics, the university degrees most related to economics are:

Mathematics, Mathematical Economics, Econometrics, Political Science, Business Administration, Management, and pure Economics programmes. 

What interests you? 

What would you find fitting, relevant, useful, and helpful to you? 

Third, which scholarship programmes are you intending to apply for? 

Similarly, this is not an easy question to answer at all. 

There are many types of scholarships, for example, private sector scholarships and government or public service scholarships. 

There are bond-free scholarships, and other scholarships which are bonded (i.e., there is an obligation to work for an employer for a certain period of time, should you take up the scholarship). 

There are partial scholarships, which do not pay for everything, and there are full scholarships, which pay for everything. Even the organisations, institutions, and services that offer scholarships are different. 

Fourth, what do you need for your application?

You will need references or testimonials; 

to deal with the application process, whether it is through the Common App or UCAS; 

to write a personal statement (often more than just one personal statement, each designed or targeted for a different target audience and with a different purpose); 

to take the SAT or ACT aptitude tests or entrance examinations, if any are needed; to prepare for an interview or even a series of interviews; and 

visa applications, and the list goes on. 

Think through and plan accordingly - what do you need for your university and scholarship application?

On that note, when planning, do remember: the timelines matter. 

They really do. 

Some applications are made before, and some are after, yet others are concurrent and simultaneous. 

You cannot report SAT scores that you have not attained, and you certainly want to find out if the university you are applying for accepts provisional scores or preliminary results from your preliminary examinations. 

If you want your teacher to write you a reference or testimonial, you will need to plan that out in advance:

Who will you ask? 

How long do they need? 

And how will they submit it, and will that take time? 

Buffer in more time. More time, more time. 

Don't do things last minute. 

In other words, think of what I said earlier - if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. 

Plan and think through what you need, and you are yet another step closer to success. 

While there is no guarantee that you will be successful in a scholarship application, each step you take helps you get closer and closer to your dream degree and aspiration to be a scholar. 

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for more. Thanks! 

JC Economics Essays

How to Win a Scholarship to University, part 1

How to Win a Scholarship to University, part 1 

Prologue and Preamble

Several years ago, I won a scholarship to read Economics as a major at university, at the undergraduate degree level.

Also, more recently, in the past few years I have been dealing with economics students - and other students - wanting to read degrees in the US, the UK, and Singapore.

I hope that these experiences will come in useful in helping students - and their parents - understand what is needed to win a scholarship to college/university or have a fighting chance to enter a top, competitive degree. 

In preparing for the college scholarship, there was a lot of preparation that I did, and I'm going to document these in a series of articles starting with this one. 

And as I mentioned, when I was still in the education service, I dealt with many students' scholarship applications, references, and recommendations, and even helped more than a fair share get into universities all around the world. 

In today's post - we start with the very simple basics

In today's post, we prepare for undergraduate degree scholarships by starting - not with the scholarship preparation itself, but by going all the way back to your time before you even thought of entering university. 

Yes, it all starts before you even think about a degree. 

Way back, when you are in secondary school, or high school, and then in Junior College or in whatever school you are in just before you apply for university - that is the time that you prepare for your scholarship. 

Starting early is the secret

It is that simple, but this secret is often misunderstood or neglected, which can be fatal to scholarship chances. 

In other words, the scholarship preparation takes place way before you even think about what UK university or college, or which US university, or whichever university in Asia or in Singapore. 

Think about this important insight, and reflect on it for a moment. 

There have been many instances when former economics students of mine have not worked hard at their studies, not done the proper preparation or achieved the right extra-curricula activities, and then at the last moment - when it is time to apply to universities through the Common App [this is one traditional way students apply to study in the United States] or UCAS [the Universities and Colleges Admissions Services, which is the the traditional way that students apply to study in the United Kingdom] - they want my help. 

Nay, they demand my help. 

Write me a recommendation letter, they say. 

Help me with my personal statement, they say. Edit it, proofread it, enhance it, they say. 

Help me with my CCA record - the co-curricula activities record - they say. 

Often, I cannot help them. 

Not because I don't want to, but because they have not helped themselves. 

As the saying goes, God helps those who help themselves - well, not that I am God, but this is a useful and relevant saying.  

Working backwards, this can be quite instructive.

It tells you that the preparatory work to be done in winning scholarships or fighting to enter a top degree course is not merely in the interview preparation, the application preparation, or even the wonderfully-worded, Shakespearean-standard personal statement that conveys your unique and special personality, talents, and achievements. 

It tells you that it boils down to the simple basics, right at the start, way before the degree. 

Did you do three important things? 

When you were in school/high school/Junior college, did you do the following?

First, did you study hard and achieve good grades? 

Good grades are the price of admission to any university course or degree, not just economics degrees which can be quite competitive. 

Some of my former students wanted to study law, but they failed their General Paper or History examinations in junior college. 

Now, how is that going to work? 

If one is unable to score in much more manageable examinations, it will be a bit challenging to get into really world-class universities, and certainly challenging to receive a scholarship.

How can one do a law degree when one cannot even write a couple of essays? Law degrees are phenomenally challenging. 

Secondly, were you nice, collaborative, approachable, and polite to your teachers, Heads of Department, or Principals? 

Or were you a trouble-maker, a rascal, or naughty girl? 

This sounds funny, but is not a joke. It carries a much more significant point. 

When I was a much younger economics tutor, there were many times some of my students skipped classes, played truant, were rude to me, or did not do their projects or homework. 

One even plagiarised his Project Work assignment, while another did not undergo counselling or psychological evaluation because "he could not work with his friends and wanted to live in the past". 

Many, to be fair, were polite, approachable, and good students, but a few really tested my patience and kindness. Some of the good students even reminded me of the good in mankind, as they were involved, participatory, and understanding people with a heart for the vulnerable, poor, and the meek. 

After all my students had received their school leaving examinations, they invariably asked me for a reference. The students who were less than perfect asked for a reference too. 

Unbelievable. Simply unbelievable. 

References can be very important when it comes to applying for universities, especially for competitive courses or degrees. 

How important would a reference be for a scholarship or degree application? 

One former student stands out in my memory, from the mists of time, from ages long gone. 

S often fell asleep in class, and on several occasions lied to me, her teacher.

She managed to achieve a grade B in spite of all this, probably through no talent of her own. 

But more important was this fact - one day, she asked me to write her a letter, so that she could use it for degree admission. 

I was kind and cautioned her against this unwise move. "You may want to find another person to do that for you."

"No one is willing to, and I know you write references. Could you please help me?"

"I must tell you that I am honest. It is not going to work out well for you."

"But I really need a reference. It says here, two referees needed. I need you to help me..."

Well, she asked for it. 

I wrote it. 

It was something along these lines and a lot more detailed (and I cannot believe the fact that I can remember this after so many years): 

"I have known S in the capacity of economics tutor for ABC number of years. 

While S has achieved a commendable result in Economics, attaining a B for her H2 A level examinations, she has not paid attention in class the whole year long. There are no reasonable explanations for her lack of attendance. 

On several occasions, she has shown less than perfect integrity and has been known to bend the truth. 

She has not been promoted to the next level in the year YYYY. 

On balance, while she has shown some improvement in her studies and attitude, I would not recommend her for your course, your institution, or a scholarship."

The lesson here is that you must learn how to treat your teachers, Heads of Departments, and Principals - including Vice Principals - with respect. 

They - write - your - testimonials - and - references. 

But please don't do it purely for the reference. Please be better.

Remember the Golden Rule. Treat people as you would want to be treated.

Would you say nice things for a person who was rude, arrogant, problematic, entitled, or troublesome? 

Or would you help someone achieve a scholarship if that person was kind, polite, friendly, approachable, and reasonable? If they were interesting, intelligent, and human people? 

Your teachers are only human, and they have integrity. Don't make them tell lies on your behalf. 

Be so good and commendable that people want to help you and make you the success that you can be. 

Simply, help your teacher help you. 

Did you take on leadership roles or do volunteer service?

This is very important.

Clearly, to apply for a scholarship or even for a competitive degree course, you need to demonstrate leadership qualities or show community spirit. These are important aspects that colleges and universities look for all around the world. 

Leadership roles are useful and relevant experiences, because they can provide you with talking points for your scholarship interview, if you are successful in application.

Also, through leadership positions, you gain invaluable experiences - teamwork, collaboration, motivational skills, and resilience. 

And resilience - the never say die attitude - is critically important in the 21st century. Also, it has to be pointed out that degree courses can be quite challenging, and the ability to fight on, press on, and never give up with help, not just with scholarships, but with attaining a first class or distinction degree. 

Community work, volunteer service, Overseas Community Involvement Programmes (OCIP), and Values in Action - all these, and more, are important too. 

Do you contribute to the community? 

Do you contribute to something larger than yourself? 

And what have you learnt and experienced from doing so? 

These will all contribute to an important portfolio of work and experiences that will help you in your degree application and scholarship chances. 

Summary and Recap

The most important takeaway for my first post on how to win a scholarship to university is the advice - start early. 

And start early by studying hard and making sure you excel in your studies. 

Treat your teachers with kindness and respect, for they write your recommendations. But please don't treat them nicely only because of the testimonials, recommendations, and references. 

And have leadership roles and positions in your co-curricula activities and if you can stomach it, also do community work or volunteer work, whether local or overseas. 

Stay tuned for more. 

Thank you for reading and cheers. 

JC Economics Essays

(P.S. On a side note, several years ago, I also won a postgraduate degree scholarship to undertake my Master's degree at the London School of Economics, but since applying for a Master's programme is somewhat different from an undergraduate degree, I could explore talking about my experiences, tips, and pointers in future posts if my change in direction for JC Economics Essays is successful. 

Thank you in advance for your kind support! 

And, well, if this undergraduate or degree series does not take off, then perhaps my true calling resides elsewhere and not in blogging.) 

Notice: After More Than a Decade, JC Economics Essays Shifts Direction

Today, I am going to briefly talk about Marvel Studios in JC Economics Essays.

(I was recently reading about it from Ryan Lamble’s 2015 article, “How Marvel went from bankruptcy to billions”, and so this came to my mind.)

Basically, all comic books have a point in the plot where all seems lost. 

The good guys are down on their knees, the aliens have almost completed their invasion of earth, and the bad guys have prevailed. 

For Marvel Entertainment, this hour where all seemed lost arrived in 1996.

It had grown throughout the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s thanks to the art and storytelling in comics like the Fantastic Four and The Amazing Spider-Man. I read these comics growing up in the 1990s. 

Its financial success reached a peak by the early 1990s, but, by 1995, Marvel Entertainment was heavily in debt. 

A series of financial bubbles and business deals saw its stock value collapse, and, for a long while, the company faced a bleak future.

Yet, just like the heroes in the comics, to cut a long story short, Marvel emerged from the rubble a decade later as a successful film industry giant – much like the proverbial Phoenix from the ashes came Marvel Studios, a venture which finally brought the company's most famous characters onto the big screen. 

Ironman was the first, followed swiftly by many, many more successful movies. I am a fan myself!

Today, the rest is history.

For me, this article reminded me that change is the only constant, and Marvel successfully switched industries and changed with the times. 

What does this have to do with JC Economics Essays? 

After more than a decade of blogging - yes it has been more than ten years since I started this economics blog - I am changing direction, and trying to adjust to readers' changing demands. Hopefully I can be as successful as Marvel (one can dream). 

In recent years, there have been many economics websites and blogs coming around the corner, and many have even used similar names to mine (even though mine started earlier). Some economics blogs and websites even temporarily displaced me from my number one pole position on Google. 

Looking back, I sometimes recall some moments when former econs students of mine did their economics homework by referring to my blog, and when other students said that they knew of people who read my economic blog as revision, and so on. These are and will remain fond memories. 

But after many years of lecturing and teaching economics, I am going to change the focus of JC Economics Essays to focus on higher education, scholarships, and economics degrees. 

With my wealth of experience (not the wealth of nations), I aim to cover the entire range of topics such as applications to the UK and US, and even Singapore, universities, scholarship preparations and interview preparations, including dealing with personal statements - and I have read and edited many students' personal statements - and general advice on economics, degrees, and undergraduate and even postgraduate life in general. My topics will also deal with loans for academic study, econometrics, software and applications that economics undergraduates need, and how to score in university. 

Some of the advice on my (non-economics) personal blog will be adjusted and adapted for JC Economics Essays' use, since I'm the copyright owner. (Please read, share, and enjoy but do not plagiarise or copy. Thank you!)

Following my Masters from the LSE and a few years serving as a teacher in the education service, teaching H2 and H3 economics, I have decided to expand my blog's reach and go up the value chain, so to speak. 

The guidance, direction, and advice that I provide on applying for economics degrees, scholarships, and courses will not be perfect and may have to be adapted to your own personal circumstances, but I hope that they will be useful. Do, however, read with an open but critical mind. 

Also, I will write in the first person as I am no longer editing or writing economics essays, but giving personal guidance and advice. 

In fact, over the years, to attempt to keep relevant, I have already tried many different economics topics and approaches - do feel free to surf this economics essays blog and see the wide range of materials and essays that I have. These will remain. But since change is eternal, I shall keep up with the times and move up the value chain. 

Thank you for reading and stay tuned for the change in direction! 

JC Economics Essays

"What difference did China’s high-yield agriculture make in China’s long-term growth and development?"

Shared master's students economics essays for LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science) MSc. 

EH446 Economic Development in East and Southeast Asia series 

For over two thousand years, the Chinese Empire was able to survive almost exclusively on its high-yielding agricultural sector. While many scholars have highlighted the short-term benefits, it is of equal importance to look at the long-term effects that high-yield agriculture had on the growth and development of the Chinese economy. When looking at the microeconomic side of Chinese growth and development, high-yield agriculture created prosperous conditions that had positive effects on the society. However, when looking at the macro aspect of Chinese economics, a different conclusion can be drawn. Many scholars have argued that while growth occurred throughout Imperial China, an emphasis on agriculture over any other sector ultimately stifled further economic development. Before delving into the question of whether long term economic growth and development occurred as a result of China’s high-yielding agriculture, one should first look at the social and economic conditions that allowed for and perpetuated the agrarian sector that is emblematic of Imperial Chinese economics. 

According to Deng, Imperial China was a physiocratic state whose society and economy were heavily impacted by their ability to harness and develop agricultural exploits.  Based upon a peasant-state relationship that was cultivated during the Qin dynasty, the majority peasant population was given land in exchange for loyalty and service to the emperor. That is to say, in order to expand territorial boundaries the Qin emperor employed rural peasants as soldiers and, in exchange for their services, they were rewarded a plot of land. This resulted in a system of ‘Chinese private land ownership’; an institutionalized sense of peasant entitlement linked directly to land ownership. Empire building in the early imperial period was based upon land proliferation and created pareto optimal conditions where the empire increased territory and tax revenue and the peasant class gained land and private property. As a result, Imperial China was largely rural and based on an agrarian or a  ‘customary’ economy.    As explained in his article Development and Its Deadlock in Imperial China, Deng explains that the Chinese socioeconomic structure had “three distinctive economic types - customary, market, and command - […and that] there were three main macrocomponents in the Chinese system” namely a rural sector, an urban sector and a combination rural/urban sector which contained amalgamations of the aforementioned three distinctive economic types. The rural sector made up the largest component of the Chinese economy and was marked predominantly by the customary type of economic activities with a smaller mercantile element.  The latter two, the urban and semi rural/semi urban types, made up smaller components of the economy. The urban type was predominantly mercantilist but also relied heavily on the customary sector for its survival.  The semi urban/semi rural sector was the state-run sector, which exemplified a command economy that “control[led] a considerable proportion of key commodities and their prices.”  It should be noted that, as a result of having a predominantly rural type economy, institutions that would protect private property and land holding would be of paramount importance in the Chinese social-state contract. In this way, land holding becomes part of the peasant endowment and the mass population becomes irrevocably linked to the land and her exploits. Together with institutions and an emphasis on the rural customary economy, the advent of a high-yielding agricultural economy as a hallmark of Imperial China is not surprising. With this framework of the Chinese economy in mind, it is now possible to explain how Chinese high-yield agriculture effected Chinese growth and development from a micro and macro standpoint. 

For the purpose of this paper, I will focus on two main elements that were greatly affected by high-yield agriculture. The first is that, due to an emphasis on agriculture, commercialization at the macro economic level was not able to evolve. At the micro economic level, commercialization did exist but was always overshadowed by the political, social and economic institutions that allowed for and maintained high yielding agriculture.

Throughout Imperial China, China’s economy was “fundamentally private and autonomous.”  That meant that while the state did collect taxes on agriculture, “[they] were normally low and predictable.”   In addition, the state was not responsible for providing welfare nets for its population. Therefore, individuals had to rely on their own productive capabilities to sustain themselves and their families. As a result, extensive land ownership and ipso facto high-yielding agriculture made it possible for peasants to support themselves. This is linked fundamentally with the idea of rational choice. As Deng explains:

“Any equilibrium [of a mixed economy between commerce and agriculture] could only be reached voluntarily by the choices of the majority in society. If voluntary, such choices had to be rational and if rational, then guided by economic incentives. These incentives had to be derived from particular institutions. The Chinese landholding system generated strong incentives for the farmer to stay in agriculture as his lifetime employment.” 

In other words, economic incentives were based upon the Chinese landholding system. In this way, people were tied to their land and would use their productive capacity to favor economic activities that took advantage of their land endowment. Since they did not rely on the state for their welfare, they had to be able to provide for it themselves through farming. 

While agriculture came first, farmers at the village level still needed to buy tools and purchase commodities. This facilitated the existence of local or micro level commodity markets and for proto-industrialization. Due to the ability to produce high yielding crops, many peasants found themselves with leisure time thus allowing them to participate in a wide range of non-agricultural activities. In essence, it was high yielding agriculture that “supported commercial activities in Imperial China whether spare time driven or spare produce driven. Here what the peasants aimed at was not economies of scale but economies of scope.”   While diverse commercial markets did exist at local levels, it should be noted that they did not exist beyond that because there were many disincentives for a peasant to completely rely on commercial activities. Since the livelihood of the peasantry relied so heavily on owning property and farming on it, rational choice pushed people away from becoming merchants or relying on commercial markets. The peasantry was greatly risk adverse and since there was little to no institutional security in sectors beyond agriculture, it discouraged people from increasing their productive capacity in something other than farming. As Deng explains, “to conceptualize this hyper propensity for land ownership, the opportunity costs for peasants to lose land [and hence, to leave agriculture] must have been very high - so high that only extra economic force was able to separate a peasant from his land.”   As a result, despite having entrepreneurial prowess, the peasantry would not leave agriculture and so, China would not see an integrated single market economy. 

Moreover, those that were in the merchant sector were also greatly affected by the emphasis on land ownership. Merchants would use their capital investing in land or education but not on continued commercial enterprise, as this was not seen as honorable. In this way, at the microeconomic level, there was a commercial market or mercantile element to the economic system based upon high yielding agriculture; “Chinese land ownership […] encouraged production, supported commercialization and induced urbanization but only to a degree.”  However, at a macro level, “China’s loosely connected localized markets [did not] converg[e] enough to be integrated into a single market.”   That is to say that the peasant, while being active in local markets, and gaining a surplus wage as a result, had no incentive to fully commercialize and give up the security they had intrinsic in the land ownership system. The opportunity cost of losing their endowment for potential high salaries was too high a risk since the state and economy did not readily support broad commercialization and merchants did not have the same assurances of sustainability, as did the rural agrarian society. In other words, linkages to land ownership pushed would be merchants away from creating larger, more diversified markets and forces the mass population to remain in agrarian modes of production. In this sense, high-yielding agriculture had a long run macro economic tendency to stifle increased and diversified commercialization. This had a profound effect on China’s long run development trajectory. 

The second element being addressed is the effect that a predominantly agrarian economy had on innovative technology as population increased. Due to a rural sector that could produce high levels of staple crops, the Chinese population grew at an alarming rate throughout the imperial period. However, as Myers points out, the “Chinese economy, after the eleventh century, merely grew larger in size”  but did not result in the development of a new production system based in something other than the agrarian model. The macro economic implication for the Chinese economy is that it did achieve growth but actually stifled technological development in that and other sectors. 

Before delving into this discussion further, it is useful to look at the Malthusian analysis of population growth and the subsequent work by Mark Elvin. First, Malthus observed that “a complex relationship among technology, population and available resources in any society inevitably produces two distinct trends.”  The first trend is that, a society’s capability to produce goods and services from a given resource base is directly correlated to the society’s use of increased technology and will cause an increase in living standards. It follows that as living standards increase, this will encourage growth in the population. At a given point, population “presses against the available resource base and the productivity of new entrants into the labor force steadily decline […] gradually lowering living standards.”  From here, Mark Elvin expanded upon the Malthus model to explain “the remarkable market organization and institutional changes that occurred [after the 17th century] and that supported huge population growth without fundamental economic development [could be conceptualized] as a high level equilibrium trap.”   

In other words, when placed in the Chinese perspective, the economy had “achieved impressive improvements in traditional technology alone” so much so that the Chinese economy had achieved very high productivity through the agriculture sector. The Chinese high-yield agricultural system had provided the population with its subsistent needs. At this point, it would follow that as the population grew, this sector would no longer be able to support the population at a subsistent level and this would necessitate a transformation in the technological capacities of the sector to allow for new sustainable capacities. However, as we see, population over growth did not cause for an institutional change nor did it bring about the traditional Malthusian checks on population, i.e. famine, disease - to limit the population growth. Due to the propensity of high yielding agriculture to produce a large enough food supply, the rural sector was able to postpone Elvin’s high-level equilibrium. This creates a situation where, in the macro economy, China saw growth but not an increase in development. By the end of the imperial period, high-yielding agriculture had created a population of subsistence farms.

At the crux of this second element lies the fact that high-yield agriculture truly stifled innovative technologies and prevented Chinese productive capacities to go beyond labor-intensive production. Bray, for example, speaks of Chinese “agriculture in late imperial [period] in terms of stagnation, involution or growth without development. [She] holds that although improvements in the micro-management of farming continued to produce small increases in crop yield, this was at the expense of the productivity of labor.”   

Magnus, via Perkins highlights this reality by explaining that while total grain output did rise in the same proportion as population,  the increase in agricultural yield was not due to technical innovation in the late imperial period. Rather, he, like Bray, characterizes this period as one of “technical stagnation mainly because there was little change in farm tools.”  Perkins attributes this high yield, rather, to the fact that land was under constant cultivation and that this sector was still riding on successful cultivating advancements of highly successful innovative technologies implemented in the Tang and Song periods through institutionalized adjustments. During that time, innovations in hydraulics, diffusion of agrarian practices, and official development of early ripening seeds, allowed for such high-yielding agriculture such as multi cropping of rice. So while these innovations occurred early on, there were no significant changes in the way that the peasantry farmed over several centuries. As Bray explains, by simply adding more labor inputs, agriculture was able to yield more without significant changes in the type of labor technology employed. This is not to say that farming did not undergo transformation, the key is that high-yielding agriculture perpetuated a system that allowed farmers to continue the type of labor they had successfully mastered for centuries without significant change in the skill set required to yield continued surplus. 

To further this argument, Boserup explained, “a distinction may be made between two types of innovations in farming technology - labor saving and labor using.”  In the case of Imperial China, it is clear that we are looking at a case of labor using innovations. Boserup points out that the two types of innovations differ in three important ways, first, “innovations of labor saving technology tend to raise the returns per unit of labor whereas opposite is true of with new labor using technology.”  Second, you would need to use greater amounts of labor to offset the initial disadvantage.  Thirdly, while new labor saving technology required invention in other areas, such as engineering, Boserup explains, “labor using technologies may be first invented in a few pockets of high population density.”  As such, we see that this is compatible with the fact that as the population grew, it was simply implemented into the production of high-yielding agriculture.  So while there was transformation in the cropping systems, Chinese farmers relied on labor intensity and not innovations of mechanized tools to support the growing population. With this emphasis on the use of labor and not on innovative technologies, high yield agriculture led to long run diminishing returns in labor, and diminishing standards of living. 

The high-yield agricultural system perpetuated an ever-resilient rural economy that significantly prevented long run development. While in the short run, “institutions that supported high yield agriculture [were] capable of alleviating short run human suffering, [but] China’s [agricultural…] resiliency prolonged its economic stagnation.”  The first element expresses that, while high yield agriculture did allow for localized markets, it did not allow for further development of commercial markets or non-agrarian sectors.  The effect was that there were no unified Chinese commercial markets and a very limited merchant class. In the long run, high yield agriculture forestalled significant development in non-agrarian markets.  The second element furthers the idea that long run development was not achieved as a result of high yield agriculture. As a result of production being so robust, high yield agriculture was able to support very large populations without necessitating extensive technological innovation. Moreover, since the peasantry could increase crop productivity by adding labor instead of introducing new technologies, there was no incentive to either change the methods of production or improve upon mechanical technology. While in the long run, high-yield agriculture allowed for population growth, it did not allow for technological innovations in this sector and prevented the population from shifting to another sector to sustain itself. In this way, long run development was significantly curtailed. As a result, reliance on high yield agriculture had a two-fold detrimental effect on Chinese long run development in terms of sector (especially commercial) diversity and technological development.  

Chinese high yield agriculture was ultimately more disadvantageous to Chinese long run growth and development. 

JC Economics Essays - This short series on JC Economics Essays is a set of shared economics essays on economic development, shared by my former classmates KVL and TZ with me when we were reading our MSc. at LSE, London, United Kingdom. We shared essays so that we could gain additional perspectives on how to craft good essays to get a high grade for the Master's degree at LSE, and that was a good way of sharing information and material. All the essays were graded highly by Dr Kent Deng, a very excellent and inspirational tutor and lecturer at the LSE when I was studying there. I hope you find the essays on economic development interesting or useful. Special thanks to KVL and TZ (both from the United States of America) for their kind sharing.

EH446 Economic Development of East and Southeast Asia

"In your opinion, was China capable of nurturing its indigenous Industrial Revolution?"

Shared master's students economics essays for LSE (London School of Economics and Political Science) MSc. 

EH446 Economic Development in East and Southeast Asia series 

Introduction

This essay aims to evaluate whether or not China was capable of nurturing its indigenous Industrial Revolution. In order to answer this question, it is important to first clarify the question by defining ‘indigenous Industrial Revolution’ and explaining what is meant by ‘capable.’ This essay will treat China’s ‘indigenous Industrial Revolution’ as the great achievements in science and technology during the Northern Song period.  ‘Capable’ is considered to mean China’s inherent ability to maintain and invigorate its technological momentum in the absence of outside forces (most notably, the pressure from Tatars and the Mongol invasion in the thirteenth century).

This analysis begins with a summary of the product and process innovations leading up to the thirteenth century, followed by the shift towards extensive-type growth in agriculture, transportation, and economics. An explanation of the role of the state will follow, highlighting the differing roles of ideology, competition, and science in order to compare the Chinese and British cases. Using the structure defined above, this essay finds that China possessed both inherent strengths and weaknesses for cultivating its indigenous Industrial Revolution. The positive factors that led to significant technological advancements in the Northern Song period persisted, as did economic (extensive) growth in the years that followed. China lost its ‘edge’ when intensive growth slowed due to government (dis)incentives and a lack of competition. By considering the debilitating impacts of these internal factors , this essay concludes that it would have been difficult for China to foster its own Industrial Revolution, even in the absence of foreign struggles.

Intensive Growth during the Northern Song

China’s great achievements during the Northern Song period did not happen overnight. Song success was the result of a long period in which a “well-functioning” system developed; by 300 B.C., China “had many characteristics of a market economy.”  From that point through the early twelfth century, an industrial revolution was in the making. Scholars point to China’s early arrival on the scene, predating the British Industrial Revolution by centuries. 

The Northern Song period witnessed the invention of many products including massive ships, the compass, and military tools.  As John Hobson points out in his critique of Eurocentric writers, objects designed for large-scale conflict and exploration were not the only innovations during this time period. While useful for military technology, iron was also used to produce commonplace items such as shovels, stoves, and nails.  Iron was not alone in its versatility; paper was also used widely in China before reaching the West, for such disparate functions as wallpaper, money, shoes, and even military armour. 

In addition to the various new products that surfaced during the incubation of China’s Song Revolution, many process innovations also occurred. Metal treatment technologies such as smelting, confusion, oxidisation, and decarbonisation were mastered during this period, rendering Chinese cast iron production and metallurgy practices less expensive and more diverse.  In the textile industry, the introduction of spinning wheels using hemp and silk marked a great procedural improvement in this field.  It was these technological innovations in products and methods that stimulated China’s economic growth through the Northern Song period.

Extensive Growth during the Southern Song and Later

During the transition from the Northern Song to Southern Song period (in the early twelfth century), economic growth continued but its foundation shifted; society was no longer propelled by the innovative vigour of the preceding years. By the time the Ming Dynasty came to power in 1368, a new trend had emerged. In The Lever of Riches, Joel Mokyr identifies the sources of this new kind of growth as the “expansion of internal commerce, monetization, and the colonization of the southern provinces,” also noting the growing population and agricultural “intensification” that continued through the nineteenth century.  

Agricultural “intensification” efforts differed from the agricultural inventions of the Northern Song period in that they were not unique, novel creations. In most cases, such efforts were manifested in the form of small improvements to existing products or practices.  In his article, ‘The Needham Puzzle: Why the Industrial Revolution did not Originate in China’, Justin Yifu Lin cites some examples, including the share plow for creating furrows in soil and the introduction of Champa rice to be grown in the southern provinces.  Seed drills, weeding tools, fertilizers, and pest control also emerged during this time. 

As the population shifted southwards and agriculture adapted to gain the most from this territory, transportation capabilities were also bolstered. The Chinese used internal waterways to send coal, iron, and steel south to meet the demand from these provinces.  In addition to the physical infrastructure, fiscal systems were also created to tax and regulate internal and international commercial activity.  The change from China’s intensive economic growth during the Song technology boom to the more extensive pattern in the years that followed was not simply a function of northern aggression and natural conditions. Institutions, ideologies, and methods of innovation also played a role in determining why China’s Song Revolution did not follow the same trajectory as the later British Industrial Revolution.

Institutions, Ideologies, and Incentives

The Chinese government played an integral part in the state’s economic development. Agriculture flourished in part because of government incentives and advantageous loan conditions.  The close alignment of the state apparatus with the economy created a kind of symbiotic relationship between the Chinese government and science and technology: when the state was strong, innovation thrived. In their essay, ‘The Evolution of Chinese Science and Technology’, Jin Guantao, Fan Dainian, Fan Hongye and Liu Qingfeng cite an example of this in the textile industry – noting that textile technology blossomed during the successful Song period, but then “degenerated as the dynasty collapsed and upheaval and destruction set in.” 

Scholars who attribute the stagnation of the Chinese Industrial Revolution to restrictive state action have been criticized for exhibiting a Eurocentric bias.  While this may be a valid contention, it is important to note the shift in ideology when the Ming Dynasty came to power. “Obedience” and “conformism” have been used to describe key values that prevailed during their rule.  John Hobson attributes the 1434 Ming ban on foreign trade to a return to Confucian principles; he asserts that it was more important for the Ming rulers to maintain the ban in theory in order to retain regime legitimacy, while the ban was loosely enforced in practice.  

One critical difference between the political climate of the technology revolutions in China and Britain was the lack of competition in the Chinese case.  The absence of public debate and a competitive market during the Ming slowed the type of accelerated growth that had been achieved during the Song and that was later seen in the British case. The strong state and its roots in Confucianism also stifled the kinds of scientific experiments that led to significant discoveries later in Europe. Confucianism valued knowledge learned from direct experiences over experiments, going so far as to deem the latter to be “witchcraft.”  The benefits of a system that intertwined science and technology were realized in Britain during the Scientific Revolution. In China, these remained discrete concepts and thus lacked the benefits of this kind of synergetic “feedback” mechanism. 

Conclusion

To answer the original question, was China capable of nurturing its indigenous Industrial Revolution, this essay has raised several points. First, although economic growth remained positive, there was a shift from intensive to extensive growth after the fall of the Song Dynasty, which was significant for the future of technological innovation. When this shift is considered in conjunction with state Confucian ideology, a lack of competition and the limited interaction between scientific methods and technology, China’s ability to maintain the technological strength of the Song Revolution even in the absence of external threats seems relatively weak. 

JC Economics Essays - This short series on JC Economics Essays is a set of shared economics essays on economic development, shared by my former economic history classmates KVL and TZ with me when we were reading our MSc. (Masters of Science) at the London School of Economics (LSE), London, United Kingdom. We shared our economic history essays so that we could gain additional perspectives on how to craft good essays to get a high grade for the Master's degree at LSE, and that was a good way of sharing information and material. All the economic history essays were graded highly by Dr Kent Deng, a very excellent and inspirational tutor and lecturer at the LSE when I was studying there. I hope you find the essays on economic development interesting or useful. Special thanks to KVL and TZ (both from the United States of America) for their kind sharing. Thank you for reading and cheers. 

EH446 Economic Development of East and Southeast Asia