Assistant Professor of Economics Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business (CKGSB) Research Interests Political Economy, Economic History, Organizational Economics [email protected] 10/F, No. 125 Guangqumennei Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, China |
Curriculum Vitae [PDF]
3 Research Themes - Self-enforcing social order in the shadow of power struggles - Power succession and transition in dynasties and family businesses - Economic origins of social, cultural, and gender norms Publications 6. The Promotion Club (with Shuo Chen and Zhitao Zhu) [PDF] Public Choice, 2026, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11127-026-01422-5 Club-based promotions facilitate leaders' discretion without distorting incentives. 5. Starving and Deceiving? How Disasters Reshape Politicians' Incentives to Lie (with Shuo Chen and Xuanyi Wang) [PDF] Public Choice, 2025, 204: pp.287-306 The victims of lies are more reluctant to lie when serving in public offices. 4. The Shaping of A Gender Norm: Marriage, Labor, and Foot-binding in Historical China (with Lingwei Wu) [Link] [SSRN] UniCredit Foundation - Best Paper Award on Gender Economics 10th International Economic Review, 2023, Vol. 64: pp. 1819-1850. Detrimental gender norms can be traced back to unequal access to social mobility. 3. Competence-Loyalty Tradeoff under Dominant Minority Rule: The Case of Manchu Rule 1650-1911 (with Shuo Chen, L. Colin Xu, and Xun Yan) [Link] [SSRN] Journal of Public Economics, 2023, Vol. 200: 104843 Dominant minority adopted cross-ethnic personnel combos for loyalty & efficiency. 2. Warcraft: Legitimacy Building of Usurpers (with Shuo Chen) [PDF] [Link] Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 2021, Vol. 184, pp. 409-431 Usurpers initiated more wars than hereditary rulers for more aggressive legitimization. 1. Strategic Promotion, Reputation, and Responsiveness in Bureaucratic Hierarchies (with Feng Yang) [PDF] [Link] Journal of Theoretical Politics, 2019, 31(3), pp. 286-307 Mid-tier manager deterred staffs' promotion to shift blames when boss is watching. Working papers 9. Reason for Treason (with Gary Richardson, Zhihao Xu, and Sicheng Zhao) [NBER] NBER Working Paper 35069 Internal organizational under-recognition and promising external career prospects incentivize military officers to defect to their enemies. 8. Guns and Resources: War Extractions and Governance Structure Reforms (with Shuo Chen, Yongtao Li, and Yanfei Yin) [SSRN] The regional externality in state-building: The 70-year Dzungar-Qing Wars in Northwestern China accelerated reforms toward centralized rule in Southern regions. 7. Deluge and Development of Early Human Societies (with Shuo Chen, and Yanfei Yin) [SSRN] The deluge in 1920 BCE accelerated early civilizational development along the Yellow River, where both productivity and coordination hypothesis contributed to the process. 6. Noble No More: Elite Recruitment, Checks and Balances, and Political Purges (with Shuo Chen, and Zhichen Huang) [SSRN] When Keju recruited commoner-born elites in bureaucracy, it erased power checks from nobility, and cultivated an absolutist rule where no one was safe from extralegal purges. 5. Trade or Raid: Can State-led Trade Policies Pacify Border Conflicts? (with Shuo Chen, and Yantong Fang) [SSRN] When the state re-opened border trades under state-monopolized ministries, the famed “Tea-Horse Trades” substantially reduced regional Sino-nomadic conflicts. 4. Career Incentives and Influence Activities on Social Media: Evidence from Chinese Academia (with Shuo Chen, and Albert Roh) Untenured professors tend to click more "likes" on the dean's social media posts during evaluation periods. Greater effects for faculties with less competitive publication. 3. Elite Persistence, Power Struggles and Coalition Dynamics [SSRN] Why do revolutions that aim to install social equality often quickly reproduce the same type of hierarchies that the revolutionaries sought to destroy? 2. Godfather Politicians and Organized Violence (with Shuo Chen and Yuzheng Wang) [SSRN] A corrupt politician may serve as Godfather to arbitrate local mafia disputes peacefully. When the politician is eradicated, the local power vacuum leads to surges of local violence. 1. Masters of Masterpieces: Ownership Dynamics of Top Elites' Art Investments (with Shuo Chen, Luc Ronneboog, and Yanfei Yin) Art masterpieces in historical China flowed from higher to lower social class owners, from political elites to economic elites, and more so in areas with higher social mobility. Work in progress 1. Law vs. Lynching: A History of Vigilantes (with Shuo Chen, Bo Yang, and Yuzheng Wang) Lynching sometimes collaborates with law enforcement to realize social "justice", but is always punished by law for social stability. We show how strong state capacity weakens lynching, and why sometimes a lynching state may exist. |