Shengqiao Lin

Shengqiao Lin

Assistant Professor

University of Toronto

Hello and Welcome!

I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. My research focuses on state–business relations, with a regional emphasis on China. I study how firms and individuals respond to government intervention—such as regulation, industrial policy, and economic sanctions—and how these interactions shape governance outcomes.

My work has been published or accepted in Journal of Politics, Journal of Contemporary China, Asian Survey, and Issues & Studies. It received the 2023 APSA Best Conference Paper Award and has been featured in The Economist, The Diplomat, Initium Media, and Taiwan Insight.

Previously, I was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies and the Reimagining the Economy Project at the Center for International Development.

As an advocate for making social science accessible, I have composed more than 220 public-facing summaries of journal articles since 2020. This academic blog Invitation to Political Science has garnered over 1.8 million reads (available at Notion).

My first name is pronounced like /Shung-chyaw/ .

You can reach me via email: shengqiao.lin@utoronto.ca

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

(Conditionally accepted) “Who Shakes More: Multinational Corporations’ Trade Responses to Political Tensions” (with Fanying Kong and Xuan Wang) International Studies Quarterly

(Conditionally accepted) “Political Backlash of Economic Sanctions: Evidence from Beijing’s Restriction on Cross-straits Tourism” (with Dongtao Qi and Suixin Zhang) Journal of Peace Research) [SSRN]

(2025) “Addressing Risk by Doing Good: Business Responses to Government Policy Initiatives” Journal of Politics [Paper] [Replication] [SSRN]

(2024) “Service Motivation under Political Pressure: Exploring Chinese Local Cadres’ Responsiveness” (with Zhezhe Duan and Zhenqing Zheng) Asian Survey 64 (4): 666–699 [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]

(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

“Fiscal Origin of Selective Enforcement: Evidence from China’s Administrative Penalties” (with Gary Ziwen Zu, R&R at American Journal of Political Science) [SSRN]

“Partnership as Assurance: Regulatory Risk and State‒Business Equity Ties in China” (under review) [SSRN]

“Escaping the Manipulation Trap: Countering Local Data Manipulation by Disclosure” (with Handi Li and Minh Trinh, under review)

“State Ownership and Corporate Compliance: Evidence from China’s Cybersecurity Law” (with Xuan Wang, Lixing Li, and Jiayi Hou)

“Chaos is a Ladder: Government-MNC Relations During Nationalist Protests” (with Fanying Kong, Tianyang Xi, and Xuan Wang)

TEACHING

Co-Instructor

Teaching Assistant

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

RESOURCE

Data

  • Political Risk Index of Chinese Listed Companies (2013-2019) [Paper] [Data]

Academic Blogs

Interviews (in Chinese)