SCCEI Seminar Series (Winter 2026)

Friday, March 6, 2026 | 12:00 pm -1:20 pm Pacific Time
Goldman Room E409, Encina Hall, 616 Jane Stanford Way

Enlightenment Under Autocracy: The Origins of Liberalism in China

This paper studies how ideas emphasizing individual moral agency diffuse and shape political behavior under autocracy by tracing the spread of Wang Yangming’s School of Mind in late imperial China. Using a new dataset of over 24,000 historical texts from 1000 to 1900, we measure regional exposure with two indicators: the frequency of core concepts and the count of associated authors. We also introduce a semantic-similarity measure that compares local texts to Yangming’s writings. A difference-in-differences design shows a sharp post-1500 rise in exposure, concentrated in places with stronger lecture influence. Prefectures with higher exposure were more likely to produce reformist leaders in the Donglin Movement (1604–1627). Using contemporary survey data from 2010 and a matched-sample approach, we further document long-run persistence. Residents in historically exposed prefectures express stronger support for the right to discuss public affairs and for limiting government involvement in private affairs. Together, the results link the diffusion of Yangming learning to reformist mobilization among elites and to durable attitudes toward political voice and the appropriate scope of government.

About the Speaker 
 

Professor Melanie Meng Xue is Assistant Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Her research lies at the intersection of political economy, gender, culture, and economic history, with a regional focus on early modern and modern China. Her work explores the rise of women, the persistence of authoritarian regimes, and the long-term impact of affirmative action and cultural values on economic and political inequality.

Her articles examine topics such as folklore and proverbs as sources of cultural transmission, and she is currently working on a book project analyzing cultural values across ethnic groups and regions in China. Professor Xue has published widely, and her research has influenced both academic and public discourse on the role of historical narratives and norms in shaping institutional development. She received her Ph.D. in Economics and has mentored research assistants who have gone on to top Ph.D. and pre-doctoral programs. During the 2025–26 academic year, she will be on sabbatical, spending the fall semester at Yale University.

Questions? Contact Xinmin Zhao at xinminzhao@stanford.edu
 

This event has been cancelled.

We hope to see you at another SCCEI event soon!

SCCEI Seminar Series (Winter 2026)

Friday, February 20, 2026 | 12:00 pm -1:20 pm Pacific Time
Goldman Room E409, Encina Hall, 616 Jane Stanford Way

Competitive Human Capital Investment: Evidence from Housing Prices and Educational Expenditures

The hypothesis of competitive human capital investment posits that one important motivation for parents to invest in their children’s education is to help them to develop an advantage in their future dating and marriage market. If ownership of certain housing conveys a right to access to high-quality educational resources, a “good-school” premium is embedded in the prices of such home ownership. The size of the premium may reflect the degree of local marriage market competition. We investigate such an effect using housing prices and the location of top schools in 33 Chinese cities. We find robust evidence that the local sex ratio of the youth cohort is a strong predictor for the size of the local “good school” premium. We also find that the households from cities with a higher sex ratio are more willing to spend on children’s education, especially for sons.

Please register for the event to receive email reminders and add it to your calendar. Lunch will be provided.

About the Speaker 
 

Professor Shang-Jin Wei is the N.T. Wang Professor of Chinese Business and Economy at Columbia University, with joint appointments in the Graduate School of Business and the School of International and Public Affairs. A leading expert on international finance, trade, and macroeconomics, his research focuses on globalization and the Chinese economy. His work has been published in top journals, including the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, and the Journal of Finance.

From 2014 to 2016, Professor Wei served as Chief Economist of the Asian Development Bank, where he led economic research and policy support for regional cooperation initiatives. He previously held positions at the International Monetary Fund, Harvard University, the Brookings Institution, and the World Bank. He is the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Sun Yefang Prize, the Zhang Peifang Prize, and the Gregory Chow Award. He received his Ph.D. in Economics and M.S. in Finance from the University of California, Berkeley.
 

Questions? Contact Xinmin Zhao at xinminzhao@stanford.edu
 

SCCEI Seminar Series (Winter 2026)

Friday, January 30, 2026 | 12:00 pm -1:20 pm Pacific Time
Goldman Room E409, Encina Hall, 616 Jane Stanford Way

Energy Management and Systems Change in Factories and Supply Chains in China

In China, manufacturing energy use and industrial processes are economically important but are also responsible for approximately 60% of the country's greenhouse gas emissions and cause local environmental harm. This paper develops a framework for studying the multifaceted impacts of production systems and possible interventions to reduce them, then examines the empirical evidence of effectiveness. We apply this framework to iron and steel production, downstream metal components manufacturing, and automotive assembly, relying whenever possible on observations of decision-making in factories. The talk will conclude by discussing how existing incentives interact to influence the pace and direction of progress in addressing sustainability impacts across the supply chain. 

Please register for the event to receive email reminders and add it to your calendar. Lunch will be provided.

About the Speaker 
 

Valerie Karplus is a professor in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy and associate director at the Wilton E. Scott Institute for Energy Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University.

Karplus studies resource and environmental management in organizations operating in diverse national and industry contexts, with a focus on the role of institutions and management practices in explaining performance. Areas of expertise include innovation in global corporate and industrial supply chains, regional approaches to workforce and economic revitalization, and the integrated design and evaluation of public policies. Karplus has taught courses on public policy analysis, global business strategy and organization, entrepreneurship, and the political economy of energy transitions. At CMU, she runs the Laboratory for Energy and OrganizationsOpens in new window. Karplus is also a faculty affiliate of the MIT Energy InitiativeOpens in new window, the MIT Center for Energy and Environmental Policy ResearchOpens in new window, and the MIT Center for Sustainability Science and Strategy.

She has previously worked in the development policy section of the German Federal Foreign Office in Berlin, Germany, as a Robert Bosch Foundation Fellow, and in the biotechnology industry in Beijing, China, as a Luce Scholar. From 2011 to 2016, she co-founded and directed the MIT-Tsinghua China Energy and Climate Project a five-year research effort focused on analyzing the design of energy and climate change policy in China, and its domestic and global impacts. Karplus previously served on the faculty at the MIT Sloan School of Management.

Karplus holds a BS in biochemistry and political science from Yale University and a Ph.D. in engineering systems from MIT.

Questions? Contact Xinmin Zhao at xinminzhao@stanford.edu