“Management Structure and Bank Performance: An Empirical Examination of the early Republican Chinese Banking Industry.”

This paper investigates the relationship between bank performance and management structure in Shanghai between 1912 and 1937. The data come from the Shanghai's Municipal Archives and the Center for Research of Chinese Business History. Using panel data econometric technique, the analysis finds that management structure does little to explain bank performance. Rather, factors such as bank asset quality, and the bank’s line of business influenced performance. The results have policy implications for bank reforms in China today. _______________________ I wish to thank Gary Richardson and R. Bin Wong for their continuous guidance and advice. David Brownstone, Michelle Garfinkel, and Jun Ishii provided helpful suggestions and comments. The Economic History Association, the University of California, Irvine, the National Security Education Program, the All-UC Group in Economic History and Dr. Ryoji Yokoyama provided the funding necessary for the completion of this project. All errors are mine.