Home ties, global trade: How clan culture shapes Chinese exports

This paper investigates how domestic institutions, specifically Confucian clan culture, influence firms’ participation in international trade. Using a nationally representative survey of small and medium-sized private enterprises in China, we show that firms located in counties with a stronger historical presence of clans are more likely to export and achieve higher export values. These findings remain robust after addressing potential endogeneity through instrumental variable estimation, matching analysis, alternative model specifications, and an extensive set of control variables. Mechanism analysis reveals that clan culture promotes exports primarily by alleviating financial constraints and enhancing contract enforcement, with the financing channel playing the more prominent role. Moreover, the effect of clan culture on exports is significantly stronger in regions with weaker formal institutions, suggesting that clans can serve as effective substitutes for formal market-supporting institutions.