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Nancy Qian

Nancy Qian

Writing for PS since 2021
32 commentaries
1 videos & podcasts

Nancy Qian, Professor of Economics at Northwestern University, is Co-Director of Northwestern University’s Global Poverty Research Lab and Founding Director of China Econ Lab.

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  1. What TikTok Got Wrong About America
    qian36_ Jens Kalaenepicture alliance via Getty Images_tiktok Jens Kalaene/picture alliance via Getty Images

    What TikTok Got Wrong About America

    May 6, 2024 Nancy Qian thinks the company sealed its fate by aggressively interfering in the US political process.

  2. Humanizing the US-China Relationship
    qian35_Wang GangVCG via Getty Images_shanghai Wang Gang/VCG via Getty Images

    Humanizing the US-China Relationship

    Apr 5, 2024 Nancy Qian laments the sharp decline in cross-cultural in-person interactions since the pandemic.

  3. The Truth About US Immigration
    qian34_PEDRO PARDOAFP via Getty Images_immigration PEDRO PARDO/AFP via Getty Images

    The Truth About US Immigration

    Mar 18, 2024 Nancy Qian warns that overheated campaign-season rhetoric is dangerously polarizing and ultimately self-defeating.

  4. Why Are So Many Young Chinese Depressed?
    qian33_WANG ZHAOAFP via Getty Images_chinese youth WANG ZHAO/AFP via Getty Images

    Why Are So Many Young Chinese Depressed?

    Dec 20, 2023 Nancy Qian identifies the main structural factors driving widespread youth unemployment and loneliness.

  5. Zero-COVID’s Long Tail
    qian32_Kevin FrayerGetty Images_china covid Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

    Zero-COVID’s Long Tail

    Nov 17, 2023 Nancy Qian considers the lasting economic and social effects of China’s three years of draconian lockdowns.

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  1. rodrik222_Kevin FrayerGetty Images_china solar panel Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

    Don’t Fret About Green Subsidies

    Dani Rodrik sees no good argument against industrial policies that accelerate growth in decarbonization industries.
  2. gros186_Sean GallupGetty Images_euro Sean Gallup/Getty Images

    Europe’s Geoeconomic Competitiveness Challenge

    Daniel Gros highlights the security risks raised by the prolonged decline of the EU’s relative economic power.
  3. op_ang1_retrorocketGetty Images_corruption retrorocket/Getty Images

    How Exceptional Is China’s Crony-Capitalist Boom?

    Yuen Yuen Ang

    While both the American and Chinese Gilded Ages raised material standards of living for hundreds of millions of people, their endemic corruption produced radically unequal and unsustainable growth. Ultimately, both periods offer cautionary tales about unbridled crony capitalism, not models for blind emulation.

    explains how corruption both drove the country's GDP growth and sowed the seeds for its current economic problems.
  4. bp india election Photo by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP via Getty Images

    Will India’s Election Destroy Its Democracy?

    Since taking power in 2014, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his ruling Bharatiya Janata Party have stoked Hindu nationalism, hollowed out India’s democracy, and overseen an economy that is probably performing far worse than official figures suggest. And yet Modi and the BJP are genuinely popular, making them likely – though not certain – to emerge victorious when the ongoing parliamentary election concludes in June.

  5. benami213_YEHUDA RAIZNERAFP via Getty Images_israelflag Yehuda Raizner/AFP via Getty Images

    The Unbearable Lightness of Anti-Zionism

    Shlomo Ben-Ami warns that demonizing all Israelis will only make peace less likely – though that may be the point.
  6. alfredsdottir1_Getty Images_pay gap Getty Images

    How to Close the Gender Wage Gap

    Lilja Dögg Alfreðsdóttir argues that Iceland’s experience lends further support to Nobel laureate economist Claudia Goldin’s research.
  7. brown107_Jeff J Mitchell - Pool Getty Images_covidvaccine Jeff J. Mitchell/Pool/Getty Images

    Getting the Pandemic Treaty Across the Finish Line

    Gordon Brown hopes negotiations will conclude this month, and pushes back on a last-minute wave of misinformation.
  8. singer231_Michael M. SantiagoGetty Images_college protests Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

    When Is Criticism of Israel Anti-Semitic?

    Peter Singer rejects comparisons of the recent US campus protests to the actions of Nazi student groups in the 1930s.
  9. Project Syndicate

    Trump’s Plans for the Fed Would Revive 1970s-Style Inflation

    Maurice Obstfeld thinks the presumptive GOP nominee’s policies reflect an outdated understanding of the economy.

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