Studies the political economy of development is centrally concerned with the relationship between institutions and economic change. As scholars increasingly recognize local institutional innovation’s role in creating economic growth in the Global South, how it shapes spatially uneven development remains under-examined. When state actors implement a locally successful model nationally, can it create growth in laggard regions and narrow socioeconomic inequalities across regions? My research draws on the political sociology of state-power formation, comparative-historical sociology of institutional change, and agrarian political economy to explore the conditions for its success or failure.

Beyond my dissertation, I am developing a second major research project on China’s real-estate sector. During the past 20 years, real-estate expansion has been the most crucial to China’s political economy. Earlier studies focus on its political origins, like local states’ fiscal needs from land sale and pressure to create GDP growth. My project asks two simple questions: 1. Why would people buy houses? 2. What are the socioeconomic impacts of homeownership? My earlier fieldwork found that, in China’s poor, rural regions, it was the needs to attain patriarchal male adulthood and ensure children’s basic education that compelled rural households to buy county-seat apartments. Yet, homeownership led to a breakdown of inter-generational filial support. I will test whether these dynamics work in other parts of China, including major urban centers, industrial hubs, and poorer, labor-sending regions. My project will collect archival and statistical data, and interview officials, developers, and homebuyers in 3-4 field sites to explore the different social, cultural, policy mechanisms that create demands in local housing markets. It maps out real estate’s spatial and historical evolution, and adds China to comparative studies on how culture shapes the political economy of housing. By exploring how homeownership impacts reproductive activities, it further depicts a Chinese trajectory towards crisis of social reproduction and capitalism.