“Product Display Room” and “General Director Office” of a Chinese Manufacturer in Binh Duong, Vietnam

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Political Science at Harvard University’s Department of Government. Trained in both Comparative Politics and International Relations, I work at the intersection of international and comparative political economy, with a focus on the interaction between capital mobility and state enforcement in the context of globalization.

My dissertation and related projects explore topics including:

  • Foreign direct investment and global capital flows

  • Taxation, expropriation, and political risks to investment

  • Enforcement of labor and environmental laws

  • The role of nationality and national identity in shaping these dynamics

I have regional expertise in China and Japan and have also conducted fieldwork in Indonesia and Vietnam to study foreign firms operating there.

“Product Display Room” and “General Director Office” of a Chinese Manufacturer in Binh Duong, Vietnam (July 2024)

At Harvard, I am also an AM candidate in the Department of Statistics and a resident affiliate at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science. I am also affiliated with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA), the WCFIA Research Cluster on Business and Government, the WCFIA Program on US-Japan Relations, and the Harvard Center for International Development. My research has also received support from the Harvard University Asia Center and the Institute for Economic and Social Research (LPEM) at Universitas Indonesia.

Before coming to Harvard, I spent three years at Stanford, studying comparative politics and East Asia as a master’s student in East Asian Studies and then working as a data analyst at the Center on Food Security and the Environment. Born and raised in Shandong, China, I studied Japanese and International Relations at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, during which I also spent time at universities in Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore.

  • Is Nationalism Driving the Popular Backlash Against Globalization?

    • Presentation: MPSA (2024); ISA (2025)

  • The Domestic Politics of Global Taxation.

    • Presentation: Asian PolMeth (2024); APSA (2024)

Working Papers

  • (Dissertation book project, tentative title) When Law Enforcement Discriminates Against Foreign Investment.

  • Strategic Stability: Government Ideology and Financial Regulation Since 2008.

  • Democracy and Economic Openness? Domestic Politics and Restrictions on Investors’ Exit Mobility.

Selected Work
in Progress