Economic Statecraft in U.S.-China Competition: Industrial Policy, Economic Coercion, and Technological Development
Committee: Jon Pevehouse (Chair), Mark Copelovitch, Rikhil Bhavnani, and Reed Zhenhuan Lei
This three-paper dissertation examines how states, firms, and local governments build, exercise, and adapt to economic power in U.S.-China competition. Moving from firm lobbying over U.S. technology restrictions, to Chinese local governments’ responses to solar tariffs, to industrial adaptation in semiconductors and electric vehicles, I show how industrial policy and economic coercion reshape the political incentives, productive capabilities, and supply-chain dependencies on which economic power rests.
“Firms at the Chokepoint: Supply Chain Position, Geoeconomic Rivalry, and Firm Lobbying in the U.S.-China Technology Competition.”
“Protection at the Wrong Margin: Subnational Industrial Policy and the Misallocated Response to Foreign Economic Coercion”
“Adaptations to Foreign Economic Coercion: Comparing Semiconductors and Electric Vehicles”
Are You in the Loop? China’s Co-Evolution Dynamics (with Dwayne Woods), Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 2026, 36 (21).
Dangerous depths of bifurcation: the rise of “inter-national security narcissists” and undersea cable (dis) connections (with Dwayne Woods), Asian Security, 2024, 20(2), 106-128.
Persuasion or polarization? LGBTQ+ attitudes among young social media users in Kazakhstan (with Marika Olijar), Central Asia Survey,. 2023 Apr 18:1-22.
The Support for ISIS in the Arab World: An Examination of Arab Public Attitudes towards ISIS (In Chinese, with Fanglu Sun), Religion and American Society, 2021(01), 71-108+353
“Institutional Design and International Organizations: Chinese International Organizations” (with Tana Johnson), forthcoming in the edited volume Modern Approaches to International Organizations: Key Concepts and Topics.
Industrial Policy and Solar Firm Performances (with Jianwen Lin)
The Republican Royalties: Political Dynasties Across Regimes (with Reed Zhenhuan Lei)
“Sanctions and Technological Development: Market Dynamics of the Semiconductor Industry.”
“Defensive Upgrading: Legacy Provincial Responses to Technological Change in China” (with John Minnich and
Ruoyan Zhu).
“Public Opinion and Nuclear Diplomacy in the Russo-Ukrainian War” (with Jisoo Kim, Zening Duan, Yehzee
Ryoo, Dhavan Shah, and Jon Pevehouse).
“A Tale of Two Factories: Electrification and Local Development in Michigan, US and Anhui, China”
“Order in the Neighborhood: Comparing Great-Power Backyard Managements” (with Tana Johnson)