Lai Wei
Lai Wei
Assistant Professor
Assistant Professor
Department of Sociology
The University of Hong Kong
Department of Sociology
The University of Hong Kong
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The University of Hong Kong
Hi! I am Lai Wei (魏来). I am an Assistant Professor and HKU-100 Scholar at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Before coming to HKU, I finished my PhD in sociology from Princeton University in May 2024.
Hi! I am Lai Wei (魏来). I am an Assistant Professor and HKU-100 Scholar at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). Before coming to HKU, I finished my PhD in sociology from Princeton University in May 2024.
I study social stratification, quantitative methodology, and computational social science. My constant passion lies at combining causal inference with the study of social inequality. My dissertation develops and applies new methods to study the causes, consequences and mechanisms of intergenerational mobility.
I study social stratification, quantitative methodology, and computational social science. My constant passion lies at combining causal inference with the study of social inequality. My dissertation develops and applies new methods to study the causes, consequences and mechanisms of intergenerational mobility.
I am actively recruiting PhD students and research assistants, both full-time and part-time. Candidates with an interest in the following areas are particularly welcome: (1) labor market and social mobility; (2) the family demography of social mobility; (3) advanced topics in causal inference; (4) the use of ML and LLM in survey research.
I am actively recruiting PhD students and research assistants, both full-time and part-time. Candidates with an interest in the following areas are particularly welcome: (1) labor market and social mobility; (2) the family demography of social mobility; (3) advanced topics in causal inference; (4) the use of ML and LLM in survey research.
E-mail: laiw@hku.hk
E-mail: laiw@hku.hk
Address: 9/20 Jockey Club Tower, HKU, HK SAR, China
Address: 9/20 Jockey Club Tower, HKU, HK SAR, China
Education
PhD in Sociology, Princeton University, 2018 - 2024
BA in Sociology, Tsinghua University, 2014 - 2018
Publications (* equal first author)
Boyan Zheng and Lai Wei. "Two-Dimensional Stratification of Subjective Social Status in China from 2006 to 2021: A New Perspective on Objective-Subjective Status Alignment." Chinese Sociological Review (Forthcoming)
Lai Wei and Yu Xie. "Social Mobility as Causal Intervention." Sociological Methods & Research (2025)
Aleksei Opacic*, Lai Wei*, and Xiang Zhou*. "Disparity Analysis: A Tale of Two Approaches." Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (2025)
Liying Luo and Lai Wei. "For Whom Does Education Convey Health Benefits? A Two-Generation Life Course Approach." Journal of Health and Social Behavior (2024)
Lai Wei. "When the Wall is Broken: Rural-to-Urban Migration, Perceived Inequality, and Subjective Social Status in China." Research in Social Stratification and Mobility (2022)
Lai Wei, Elaine Yao, and Han Zhang. "Authoritarian Responsiveness and Political Attitudes during COVID-19: Evidence from Weibo and a Survey Experiment." Chinese Sociological Review (2021)
Under Review
Lai Wei. "Treatment Effect on the Association between Outcomes", Revise and Resubmit, Sociological Methods & Research
Lai Wei. "Labor Market Transformation and Effectively Maintained Immobility in the US."
Selected Works in Progress
Lai Wei. "Compositional Effect on Association"
Fumiya Uchikoshi* and Lai Wei*. "Does College Education Mitigate Assortative Mating by Family Origin"
Lai Wei and Xi Song. "College Education and Intergenerational Mobility Revisited: A Prospective Approach"
Lai Wei and Yifei Zhu. "Using Predictions from Machine Learning and LLM to Improve the Efficiency of Survey Research"
Teaching
SOCI2030, Quantitative Research Methods, Spring 2024 - 2025, HKU
SOCI2095, Quantitative Social Science: From Correlation to Causality Spring 2024 - 2025, HKU
Selected Professional Recognition
HKU-100 Scholar HKU, 2025
Charlotte Elizabeth Procter Honorific Fellowship, Princeton University, 2023
Honorable Mention, Nan Lin Award, ICSA, 2023
Aage B. Sørensen Award, RC28 Spring, 2022
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