Research

The U.S. Origins of Chinese Science (Job Market Paper)

(with Bin Huang)

Abstract: This paper studies the persistence of social networks in the absence of social interaction. We examine how academic connections in physics between Chinese and US universities, established before the Communist Revolution, survived a two-decade absence of interaction and contributed to China’s scientific and technological development after its opening in 1978. We compile a novel dataset of biographies of US-educated Chinese physicists and construct a university-pair-level measure of academic connections between Chinese and US universities based on physicists’ affiliations in 1978 and their past experiences in the counterpart country. Leveraging the exogenous reallocation of faculty members in China’s 1952 higher education reform, we first find that historical academic connections promoted the flow of graduate students from China to the US in the 1980s by reducing information frictions. Second, they increased similarity in both publication topics and patent fields between 1985 and 2010, enabling Chinese universities to follow the research and innovation trajectories of their connected US counterparts. A key mechanism is that historical connections can be reactivated. Specifically, we show that the early ice-breaking visits of US scientists to China in the mid-1970s helped reactivate historical connections and amplified their positive effects after 1978.

Presented at: PSE Economic History Seminar, Arthur Lewis Lab Graduate Workshop (forthcoming), Oxford-Warwick-LSE Workshop in Economic History 2025 (forthcoming).

Coeducation, Female Human Capital, and the Evolution of Gender Norms

(with Bin Huang)

Abstract: This paper studies the spillover effect of exposure to gender diversity through social networks. In 1920, Peking University became the first Chinese university to admit women. We focus on the indirect effect of this coeducation reform through male students and compare female educational outcomes in the home counties of first-exposed and last-non-exposed male graduates. We find that the exposure to the coeducation reform increased the probability of female university enrollment at the county level by 13.18 percentage points. The main mechanism is the spread of more progressive gender norms through the personal networks of male students, reflected by a positive shift in male students' gender attitudes and an increase in university enrollment predominantly among female students from the same clan. However, the spillover did not increase the mass schooling of girls. Female enrollment in primary schools was unaffected, which suggests the limited capacity of elites to shape broader social change.

Presented at: Zurich Development Seminar 2022*, Warwirk CAGE-AMES Workshop 2023, LSE Chinese Economic and Social History Workshop 2023, EHS Annual Conference 2023, Northwestern Economic History Lunch 2023*, Warwick CAGE Summer School 2023, LSE Graduate Economic History Seminar 2023, Meeting of SEHO 2024, NUS Applied Economics Student Workshop 2024, International Symposium on Quantitative History 2024, ACES Political Economy Summer School 2024, 3rd EHS PhD Thesis Workshop, ASREC Europe 2024, Tübingen Econ Hist Winter School*, NEUDC 2024, Oxford-Warwick-LSE Workshop in Economic History 2024, Nick Crafts Memorial Conference, Cambridge Economic and Social History Workshop, EHS Residential Training Course, AHEC 2024, SDU HEDG 14th Annual Workshop, ENS Lyon Gender Economics Workshop, Second City History and Economics Meeting, RES 2025 Annual Conference*, EHA 2025 Annual Meeting, CEPR Paris Symposium 2025 Poster Session (forthcoming).

* presented by co-author

How Does Education Shape Wellbeing?

(with Sonia Bhalotra, Damian Clarke, and Alex Zhou)

Selected Work in Progress

Female Human Capital Investment with Limited Returns

(with Negar Ziaeian)

The Canals Not Built

(with James Fenske and Bishnupriya Gupta)