Alina Yue Wang

王 樾

Pronunciation guide of "yue":  start with "yu" and finish with "eh", you can approximate the vowel

I am a Postdoctoral Fellow at Northwestern University. I will join Smith Business School at Queen's University as an Assistant Professor in 2024.

My research interest lies in the intersection of political economy, economic history, and economic development, with special reference to the development of human capital, the origins of social conflicts, and the political selection.



[Curriculum Vitae]

Contact Information:
Email: yue.wang4[at]kellogg[dot]northwestern[dot]edu


Working Papers:


(Last updated: Nov 2022)



(with James Kung, last updated: April 2023)


Abstract: This paper examines the important role of ideology – specifically nationalism – in contributing to the revolution that ended China’s 2,000 year-long imperial rule. Using a foreign-educated elite who studied in Japan as a proxy, we demonstrate how the Qing government’s intent to build a modern nation-state by sending the country’s best talent to study in Japan led to its unexpected demise. We identify the effect of this nationalist ideology by exploiting the “ego-centric” or influence network of Zhang Zhidong – a Qing loyalist and the father of overseas study – based on his private correspondence with close colleagues. We find that each additional overseas student in a county led to significantly greater participation by the people in that county in political parties (20.4%), greater representation of its elite in the provincial assembly (10.5%), and a greater likelihood of that county declaring independence (40.5%). We show that schools and newspapers are the primary channels.



(Last updated: Nov 2022) 



(Last updated: Dec 2022) 





Working in Process: