Clair Z. Yang

Welcome! I am an assistant professor of political economy at the Jackson School of International Studies, the University of Washington in Seattle. 

My research explores a range of issues in political economy, economic history, and comparative politics, with a regional focus on China. My current project examines long-run political development and the evolution of endogenous institutions, employing multiple methods, including causal identification, game theory, and comparative historical analysis. My new book with Erik Wang, The Political Economy of China’s Imperial Examination System, is forthcoming with Cambridge University Press, Elements in Political Economy series.

Some of my work has also touched on issues of business and politics. I am a research affiliate of the Bank of International Settlement, Switzerland, and my work has been reported by Scientific American and the New York Times.

I obtained a Ph.D. in Managerial Economics and Strategy from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.S. in Mathematics from Peking University. Before joining the University of Washington, I had been a post-doctoral fellow at the Sloan School of Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.