Dorien Emmers is an assistant professor in Chinese Studies and Economics at KU Leuven. Her research interests center around the economics and measurement of human capital formation and social mobility. She has been involved in the design and evaluation of field experiments testing the effectiveness of early childhood interventions in rural China. She’s currently working on the observation-based measurement of early skill formation. Dorien previously worked as a lecturer on Chinese politics at the KU Leuven Chinese Studies Unit and was a Postdoctoral Scholar at the Stanford Center on China's Economy an Institutions. She completed her Ph. D. in Economics at KU Leuven LICOS — Centre for Institutions and Economic Performance. She previously graduated magna cum laude from the Bachelor and Master of Arts in Sinology and the Master of Science in Research in Economics at KU Leuven. She considers her background in the non-disciplinary-specific study of the Chinese language and area as a perfect complement of the non-area-specific discipline of economics.