We control for basic economic and political characteristics. We measure the level of land taxes by average farm land tax per mu in 1820 (Liang 1980), the level of human capital by the number of palace graduates per million people from 1793 to 1820 (Jiang, 2007),<sup>36</sup> and the pattern of agricultural production by the dummy variables of producing silk and tea before the Taiping Rebellion (Zhu, 1992; Wu, 1990). To measure political importance, we create four dummy variables based on the Qing classification in 1820 of a prefecture into four designations: Chong (important in transportation), Fan (important for business), Pi (difficult to gather taxes), and Nan (high in crimes). Since other wars could affect the outcomes, we control for the frequency of wars since 1776 (Chinese Military History Editorial Committee 2003).

**_Descriptive statistics_** . Table 1 compares the differences in population growth from the preTaiping Rebellion year of 1820 for the control group (i.e., the non-Taiping prefectures) and for the various treated groups for the years from 1851. Before the rebellion (i.e. year 1851), the difference in population growth between the control and the Taiping groups is insignificant. After the war, in sharp contrast, the population disadvantage of the Taiping areas (relative to the non-Taiping areas, both in comparison to the pre-war level) remains large and even expands over time, from 47 log points in 1880 to 57 log points in 2000 (see also Figure 1).

Columns (5) and (7) present the differences in population growth (relative to year 1820) between the control group and the Early and Late Taiping groups, respectively. The _initial_ drop in population in the Late Taiping areas, relative to the control, was more pronounced than in the Early Taiping areas: The lower population growth in Early (Late) Taiping regions relative to the control group was 41 (60) log points in 1880. The larger relative initial drop in Late Taiping regions reflected greater casualties that occurred in the Late Taiping areas. Between 1880 and 1953, relative to the control group, population in the Early Taiping regions declined by 11 more log points, but remained largely unchanged for the Late Taiping region. This is consistent with the stationary bandit property rights hypothesis that, relative to Early Taiping areas, Late Taiping areas had better property rights protection up to the Communist Revolution (in 1949), and, therefore, the area had less wasteland, and could support higher population growth.<sup>37</sup>

> 36 The palace graduates ( _Jin Shi_ ) are successful candidates in the highest imperial civil service examination. 37 Interestingly, the population change after the Communist Revolution through the Household Responsibility System Reform (around 1980) reverses the pattern: relatively the Early Taiping areas’ population growth stayed the same as the control group, but the Late Taiping region’s relative population growth dropped by 11 log points. This is again consistent with the land property rights story: relative property rights change for the Late Taiping areas with good property-rights protection was worse. (Communist China no longer had private property rights over land in this period.) Thus, their population dropped more. Between 1982 and 2000, China adopted the Rural Household Responsibility System, and farmers again gained _de facto_ property rights over

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