Ruixue Jia

Ruixue Jia is an associate professor of economics at the School of Global Policy and Strategy. Jia is interested in the interplay of economics, history and politics, and her research has delved into numerous aspects of Chinese history and contemporary politics through the lens of political economy. 

Her historically-minded work has examined the relationship between weather shocks and peasant revolts from 1470-1900, economic legacies of the treaty port system, the effects of the abolition of the examination system and the historical advantages bestowed on provincial capitals in China from 1000-2000 C.E. She is currently working on a paper which discusses patterns and results of elite mobilization during the Taiping rebellion. Her recent work on contemporary China examines how material and social incentives shape ethnic identity, the growing adoption of robotics by Chinese manufacturing and the effects of elite college admission on wages later in life.  

Jia is a co-director of the China Data Lab. She and Margaret Roberts currently co-lead a 21CCC project on how U.S.-China tensions and restrictive policies in both the U.S. and China impact scientific collaboration between the two countries.

For more information, please visit Ruixue Jia’s personal site.