This commentary applauds Haveman, Joseph-Goteiner, and Li's (2023) efforts to build arguments around institutional logics to explain China’s remarkable economic progress since 1978. But it also calls for broadening the focus of this inquiry so it can more generally explain why and how some societies are able to build connections between cultures and institutions that enable widespread societal progress, while other countries fail to do so. In particular, I suggest that this line of inquiry would benefit from drawing more deeply on the extensive body of writings by economic historians who have compared the economic progress of different societies over a long period.
