# kaal:claim:3782193-005

**Claim.** Imperial China invented the printing press and applied it to centralize power through uniform edicts and the first printed money; the resulting bureaucratic rigidity left the hierarchy unable to respond to internal corruption and to external invaders.

**Type.** failure  **Support.** argued

**Holds when.**

- Imperial China's use of printing for political and economic centralization

**Source quote.**

> China invented the printing press and used it to centralize power—politically with uniform edicts and economically with the first printed money. Eventually, the hierarchy couldn't re- spond to internal corruption and external threats such as Mongolian, Manchurian, and Western imperial invaders.

**From.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, *Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization* (2021), Chapter 9. Historical sketches of centralization vs. decentralization, page 3

**Cite as.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, Historical Sketches of Centralization vs. Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782193

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `74df9cc9a19a098bdacd0424a4174795f6e184f7a31c8ee7541195186701ebd2` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Calcaterra%20and%20Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20Historical%20Sketches%20of%20Centralization%20vs.%20Decentralization.pdf

**Failure mode.** Centralizing use of new information technology  (family: recentralization-drift)

**Topics.** decentralization, institutional-design

**Keywords.** printing-press, imperial-china, information-technology, centralization, institutional-collapse

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