An economist who traces state policy through historical data
Nancy Qian is an economist whose work spans development economics, political economy, and economic history, using large datasets and rigorous empirical methods to study how institutions and policy shape people’s lives. Her research on China and autocratic states connects questions of gender inequality, education, and the political economy of famine. With Andrei Markevich and Natalya Naumenko, she coauthored a 2021 study that compared regional mortality and grain procurement, presenting quantitative evidence on ethnic bias and centrally planned procurement during the Ukrainian famine. The study contributes data to debates that treat the Holodomor not only as a problem of production, but also as an outcome of state allocation and coercive procurement.
Career Timeline
- 2001B.A., University of Texas at Austin
- 2005Ph.D. in Economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- 2005–2009Assistant Professor of Economics, Brown University
- 2007–2009Harvard Academy Fellow, Harvard University
- 2009–2016Professor and Associate Professor of Economics, Yale University
- 2017–현재James J. O’Connor Professor, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
- 2021Coauthor of “The Causes of Ukrainian Famine Mortality, 1932–33”