Working Paper

Under Review

More is not Necessarily Better: Rethinking Colonial Education and Long-term Development

With Dongzhu Xu (SOAS University of London)
Under review

This paper studies colonial and pre-colonial education in Manchuria using a geographic regression discontinuity design based on historical provincial borders. Combining archival education data from the 1910s–1945 with outcomes from 1980–2010, it finds that pre-colonial state-led education had stronger effects on literacy and higher education enrollment than colonial initiatives.

Work in Progress

Is Agricultural Aid Effective in Promoting Agricultural Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa? A Causal Analysis Based on Remotely Sensed Data

With Qingqian He (China University of Political Science and Law)
Work in progress

This project uses remote sensing and GIS to study 20 years of farmland expansion in sub-Saharan Africa and maps agricultural assistance projects over the same period.

Road to Dispossession? Infrastructure Expansion and Land Grabbing in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

With Dongzhu Xu (SOAS University of London)
Work in progress

Building on preliminary fieldwork across 19 villages in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this project develops a two-dimensional spatial regression discontinuity design and a 600-household survey to study the effects of road paving on land dispossession.