I'm an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Ashoka University, where I hold a joint appointment with the Centre for China Studies.
My research examines Chinese political economy, both as window into comparative political economy and as a consequential case in its own right. My primary research agenda looks at the construction, functioning, and malfunctioning of China’s state land monopoly. A second strand of research uses the rapid rotation of Chinese politicians across local leadership positions to gain insight into the importance of leadership.
In my book project, I argue that the central government was the driving force behind building China's state land monopoly. You can read more about this project here.
My broader interest in Chinese municipal politics has also prompted a series of projects on the role of leadership. I have sought to evaluate the effect local leaders have on their jurisdictions through the study of municipal development policies, government land sales, budgeting, and--last but not least--personnel assignments. Working with Chen Hao, Cheng Cheng, Wang Yuhua, and Xu Changxin, I have created a dataset of all officials who have served in leadership positions in Shanxi 山西 province since the founding of the Communist Party in 1921. So far, we have a dataset of over 60,000 distinct officials, which we have made available here. You can find more details about the dataset in this paper.
Along with Julia Harten, Hou Li, and Andrew Stokols, I help organize the MIT-UBC-Harvard Urban China Zoom Speaker Series. Before COVID, we used to meet in person in Boston. Now we meet on Zoom, with speakers from around the world. You can join our mailing list here.