Research
From China's local governments to Singapore's cottage industries; from the exceptions to the growth–poverty nexus to a long, slow case for sufficiency-first.
I · POVERTY IN CHINA
China's thousands of local governments form a laboratory for understanding what reduces poverty — and what doesn't.
→ Key paper: Small Works (Cornell University Press, 2011)
II · GROWTH & POVERTY
Why does economic growth sometimes fail to help the poor? Lessons from the exceptions to the growth–poverty nexus.
→ Key paper: Growth Is Good for Whom, When, How? (World Development, 2008)
III · SUFFICIENCY-FIRST
Small in scale, low in technology, within reach. An overlooked alternative with a long history.
→ Key paper: Small Steps (book in progress) (see also the foundational essay)
IV · RURAL RESTRUCTURING IN CHINA
As rural economies modernize, what happens to peasants and small farmers under land consolidation and agribusiness?
→ Key paper: From Peasants to Farmers (Politics & Society, 2010 — American Sociological Association award winner)
V · CENTRAL–LOCAL RELATIONS
Decentralization in China is a constant dance between local discretion and central control.
→ Key paper: Assessing the Balance of Power in Central–Local Relations in China (Routledge, 2017)
VI · UNMET NEEDS IN SINGAPORE
Inequalities and unmet needs in a country whose narrative leaves little room for either.
→ Key paper: A Handbook on Inequality, Poverty and Unmet Social Needs in Singapore (Lien Centre for Social Innovation, 2015)
VII · OTHER RESEARCH
Some projects don't fit neatly elsewhere — including a paper co-authored with my father on the Russia–China arms trade.
→ Key paper: Farmers in a City State? Collective Action under Adverse Circumstances (Journal of Contemporary Asia, 2021)