Shengqiao Lin

Postdoctoral Fellow

Harvard University

Hello and Welcome!

I am a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Reimagining the Economy Project within the Center for International Development.

I study state-business relations with a regional focus on China. My research examines how firms and individuals respond to government intervention in the market (e.g., regulation, industrial policy, economic sanction), and how these interactions shape governance outcomes. My papers have been accepted or published at Journal of Politics, Journal of Contemporary China, Asian Survey, and Issues & Studies. My work has received APSA 2023 Best Conference Paper Award and been featured by the Economist, The Diplomat, and Taiwan Insight.

As an advocate for making social science accessible, I have composed more than 180 public-facing summaries of journal articles since 2020. This academic blog Invitation to Political Science has garnered over 1.4 million reads (available at Weibo and Notion).

You can reach me via email: shengqiaolin@fas.harvard.edu

Interests

Political Economy
State-business Relation
Industrial Policy
International Business
Chinese Politics

Education

Ph.D. in Government, 2024

The University of Texas at Austin
M.A. in Public Policy and Management, 2018

Tsinghua University
B.A. in Chinese Language and Literature, 2015

Tsinghua University

RESEARCH

Publications

(Forthcoming) “Addressing Risk by Doing Good: Business Responses to Government Policy Initiatives” Journal of Politics [Paper] [Replication] [SSRN]

Franklin L. Burdette/Pi Sigma Alpha Award for the best conference paper at APSA 2023

(2024) “Service Motivation under Political Pressure: Exploring Chinese Local Cadres’ Responsiveness” (with Zhezhe Duan and Zhenqing Zheng) Asian Survey [Paper]

(2022) “Urban Chinese Support for Armed Unification with Taiwan: Social Status, National Pride and Understanding of Taiwan” (with Dongtao Qi and Suixin Zhang) Journal of Contemporary China 32 (143): 727-744 [Paper]

Featured in The Economist, The Diplomat, and Taiwan Insight

(2021) “Dividing without Conquering: Generation, Class, Ethnicity, and Nationalism in Taiwan’s 2016 Presidential Election” (with Dongtao Qi) Issues & Studies 57 (3): 1-32 [Paper]

(2020) “Grassroots Party Building and People-Oriented Institutions in Xiuwu County” in China Case Studies for Public Policy & Management, Tsinghua University Press (in Chinese)

Working Papers

(Draft Available Upon Request)

“Partnership as Assurance: Regulatory Risk and Government-Business Equity Ties in China” (Job Market Paper)

“Who Shakes More: Multinational Corporations’ Trade Responses to Political Tensions” (with Fanying Kong and Xuan Wang, under review)

“Political Backlash of Economic Sanctions: Evidence from Beijing’s Restriction on Cross-straits Tourism” (with Dongtao Qi and Suixin Zhang, under review) [SSRN]

“Fiscal Origin of Selective Enforcement: Evidence from China’s Administrative Penalties” (with Gary Ziwen Zu)

“CEscaping the Manipulation Trap: Countering Local Data Manipulation by Disclosure” (with Handi Li and Minh Trinh)

TEACHING

Co-Instructor

Graduate-level Causal Inference (2023) [slides] [course evaluation]
The Math of Politics (2019, 2021) [course evaluation]
Global Development (2021) [course evaluation]
Research Mentor for Undergraduate Research Interns (2022, 2023)

Teaching Assistant

Politics in Contemporary China (2022)
Social Movement (2022)
American Government (2020, 2021)
U.S.-Latin America Relations (2019)
Political Parties (2018)