Speaker: Wei Jinlin, Assistant Professor (Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology)
Host: Lan Lan, Assistant Professor (Li Anmin Institute of Economics, Liaoning University)
Guest Introduction: Wang Dandan, Assistant Professor (Li Anmin Institute of Economics, Liaoning University)
Time: Friday, October 31, 2025, 14:00-15:30 (Beijing Time, GMT+8)Venue: Conference Room on the 1st Floor, Wuzhou Garden, Chongshan Campus, Liaoning University
Online Access: Tencent Meeting ID: 730-281-8924
Language: Chinese / English
Abstract:
How did banks affect innovation in England and Wales between 1750 and 1825? Using a new district-level panel dataset on patents and banks, I find that better access to banking services increased patenting. My baseline estimation, which includes district and year fixed effects, shows that a one-standard deviation increase in banking access increased patenting by 15.6% of a standard deviation. I establish a causal relationship by constructing instrumental variables that utilize shocks to the money supply and the locations of historical post towns to predict the growth of country banks. My findings suggest that banks formed a national financial market that channeled surplus funds from rural districts to industrial areas that lacked credit. Banks increased patents acquired by industrialists and merchants by lowering the costs of procuring working capital. The effects of banks were larger in districts subject to tighter credit constraints and lacked access to the London money market.
Speaker Profile
Wei Jinlin is an Assistant Professor at the Division of Social Science, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His research focuses on understanding economic development in historical periods from a spatial perspective, with a primary focus on the economic histories of China, the United Kingdom, and South Asia. He completed his undergraduate and master's studies at Peking University, earned his PhD from the University of Warwick (UK), and has conducted visiting research at Northwestern University (USA).
