Research & Projects
Research & Projects
My current research focuses on how firms rebuild lobbying relationships after legislators leave Congress, and how infrastructure construction affects ethnic conflict and local economic outcomes in Pakistan. I use empirical methods with political, administrative, and spatial data.
The Cost of Political Turnover: Firm Lobbying after Legislator Departures — Huiyi Chen and Zhiyang Zhu. We examine how firms respond when legislators to whom they are connected leave Congress. The evidence suggests that affected firms broaden their legislative networks and increase lobbying activity as they rebuild political relationships.
Infrastructure, State Presence, and Ethnic Conflict — Shiqi Guo, Abu Siddique, Lilac Zihui Zhao, and Zhiyang Zhu. This project studies the construction and completion of China–Pakistan Economic Corridor roads and their relationship to ethnic conflict and local economic outcomes. The analysis points to a temporary rise in conflict during construction and improved employment after roads open.
Districting, Safe Seats, and Political Polarization — A simulation study finds that shifts in political geography explain more of the rise in safe U.S. House seats than redistricting alone.
Partisan Gerrymandering and Political Geography: A Simulation-Based Analysis on the Effectiveness of the Efficiency Gap and Mean-Median as Measures of Partisan Gerrymandering — Using simulated nonpartisan district maps, this article tests whether the efficiency gap and mean-median statistic distinguish partisan line drawing from electoral patterns created by political geography. Their performance varies with the geographic distribution of voters and assumptions built into the measures. Published in Election Law Journal: Rules, Politics, and Policy 23(3): 237–257 (2024). DOI: 10.1089/elj.2023.0016.