Ling Chen

Ling Chen is Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins SAIS. She has also been affiliated with the Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies at Harvard University as an Associate in Research. She was a 2021-2022 Wilson China Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center. Before joining SAIS, she was a Shorenstein Postdoctoral Fellow at Stanford University and Rajawali Fellow at the Ash Center of Harvard Kennedy School.

Chen’s research interests lie in political economy and state-business relations, with a regional focus on China. She studies the nexus between states and business, such as economic, tax, and industrial policies. She is especially interested in the political, coalitional, and institutional origins of economic policies, as well as the relationship between capitalism and the authoritarian state. Her research combines in-depth field interviews with statistical analysis and machine learning. Chen's articles have been published or forthcoming in American Journal of Political Science, Comparative Politics, International Security, International Studies Quarterly, New Political Economy, Perspectives on Politics, Politics & Society, Review of International Political Economy, The China Journal, and World Development. Her first book, Manipulating Globalization: The Influence of Bureaucrats on Business in China, published by Stanford University Press, explores the politics of government-business coalitions and policy implementation in China. Her second book project is on capitalists and authoritarian governance in China, which has won the Catalyst Award.

Chen’s research has been funded by institutions such as the Social Science Research Council (Andrew Mellon Foundation), Wilson Center, Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation, Institute for Humane Studies, and Stanford University. She was recognized as an NCID Diversity Scholar by the University of Michigan. She is also the winner of 2022 American Political Science Association (APSA) Best Comparative Policy Paper Award.

In addition to academic outlets, Chen has also published in The Washington Post, Axios, and the Wilson Center report. She has given congressional testimony in front of the US-China Economic and Security Review Committee. Her comments have been quoted, among others, by the New York Times, Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Fortune, Financial Times, The Washington Post, the National Committee on US-China Relations, and the USCC Report to Congress.