Filial piety solves the problem of economic and social stability in low income societies.

It's also one of the better winning strategies for group based power struggles.

It stunts investment and growth in the modern era.

1) In households below the poverty line, filial piety is exemplified by playing your role and not making mistakes. Roles streamline the household economy ensuring survival. There's little extra capital for mistakes, so avoiding mistakes is crucial. Filial piety stabilizes the family unit by enforcing roles and ensuring proper output for each member, especially without an education background.

2) Group power struggles are prevalent both in Asia and the West (Romeo and Juliet being the most famous story in Western media), but filial piety was codified in Confucianism, whereas law was coded in Christian/Jewish tradition, which changed the trajectory of both parts of the world.

In areas with weak 3rd party institutions (legal, military, etc), you fundamentally cannot trust others, and have to trust your group to defend your property and livelihood. Filial piety is a way to form a group, consolidate resources, and ultimately carve out a place of safety and power in a "law of the jungle" landscape.

Imagine not being able to trust the legal and military system to enforce laws or safety with strangers. A stronger family can kill your family without anyone stopping them. A business partner can backstab you because they are stronger than you, and you can't do anything about it. In this kind of environment, external relationships are too risky and disappear, whereas internal relationships become very sophisticated and thrive.

Filial piety works extremely well to develop those internal relationships that allow power consolidation to the top. In this landscape, groups fight against each other for survival and resources, and power consolidation is necessary to support that fight. As an individual you give up your individualism by doing things that the group needs, and in return, you get the protection and resources of the group.

3) In societies with weak institutions, you invest in your internal group - your family members - because you can only trust them. But with strong institutions that can enforce laws and contracts, it makes sense to look outside your group for rare talent, resources, capital, or opportunities. In developed societies, "trust" as a currency for business is made exponentially cheaper. Because you have some power to bind others to a fair contract, you are much more confident about doing business with strangers. Consequently, the pool of millions of strangers has much more attractive opportunities for resource synergies than a pool of a hundred family members.

However, filial piety teaches a whole host of antiquated socio-economic behaviors related to strangers, including fundamentally mistrusting and mistreating them, giving a strong front so you aren't exposed to being attacked, never letting anyone in, and forcing them to prove loyalty to you through acts. In the modern world, filial piety limits individuals to pursue their own opportunities, develop relations, and learn risk management.

While it may sound like love and unity of family is the center of filial piety's teachings, love relationships are the antithesis of what filial piety promotes. Instead, it's adherence to roles and sacrificing your own preferences and loves to do whatever the group needs you to do, because that's how you survive.