Andrew J. Sinclair, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor of Finance
California Institute of Technology
Email: ajsincla@caltech.edu
Research Areas: Chinese economics, financial intermediation, institutional economics, political economy, macroeconomics, economic history
I am an expert on China’s economic system, which is a central force shaping the twenty-first century yet also the least understood major economic system in the world. My research seeks to explain how modern China works by developing a general economic theory of Chinese market socialism. This work provides a rigorous analytical framework for understanding how the Chinese government shapes market outcomes, both domestically and globally.
I received my PhD in financial economics from Yale University and previously served on the faculty at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). My research has been published in leading economics journals, including The Economic Journal and the Journal of Economic Theory, and has been featured by The Financial Times, Bloomberg, and Vox China. I have been invited to present my work on China at leading academic, policy, and financial institutions, including Yale University, the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, BlackRock, and the Hoover Institute at Stanford (YouTube link).
In recognition of my commitment to teaching, I received the Faculty Outstanding Teaching Award (Undergraduate Teaching) from the Faculty of Business and Economics at HKU in 2022, and the HSS Brass Division Award for Teaching from the Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences at Caltech in 2025.
1. Banking on the Confucian Clan: Why China Developed Financial Markets So Late [Paper Link]
Zhiwu Chen, Chicheng Ma, and Andrew Sinclair, The Economic Journal, 2022, 132 (644)
2. Wealth, Endogenous Collateral Quality, and Financial Crises [Paper Link]
Zehao Liu and Andrew Sinclair, Journal of Economic Theory, 2022, 204 (105526)
3. Do Prime Brokers Intermediate Capital? [Paper Link]
Andrew Sinclair, Journal of Financial Intermediation, 2023,101004
4. Retail Hedge Funds
Andrew Sinclair and Chuyi Zhang, forthcoming in the Journal of Alternative Investments, 2026
5. Executive Authority and Implicit Guarantees [SSRN Link]
Andrew Sinclair, 2025
6. Discounting Chinese Industrial Policy [SSRN Link]
Andrew Sinclair and Chuyi Zhang, 2025
7. China's Global Currency: Re-pegging the Hong Kong Dollar [SSRN Link]
Andrew Sinclair, 2025
8. State Control and Global Fragmentation [SSRN Link]
Andrew Sinclair, 2025
9. Price Controls and Wealth Redistribution in the Chinese IPO Market [SSRN Link to earlier draft]
Yongning Deng, Andrew Sinclair, and Chuyi Zhang, 2023
10. Understanding China Through Finance
Andrew Sinclair, 2024
11. A China-led global system alongside that of the US is Xi Jinping's ultimate aim [Link]
Andrew Sinclair, The Guardian, August 12, 2025
1. Andrew Sinclair Develops a Theory of Chinese Economics [Link]
Cynthia Eller, Caltech News, December 12, 2025