I am a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Politics at Princeton University. My research focuses on the historical political economy of conflict and quantitative methods.
Education
2024 - Present
Ph.D. in Politics, Princeton University
2022 - 2024
M.A. in International and Regional Studies, University of Michigan
2016 - 2020
B.A. in Political Science, Fudan University
Working Papers (Selected)
Non-Retaliatory Coercion and Subnational Support for the Incumbent
[Draft]
Abstract
Most research on foreign economic coercion examines retaliatory restrictions following a target's provocation. We examine a case of coercion without any publicly identifiable provocation and ask whether rally-around-the-flag effects emerge. Absent such a provocation, non-retaliatory coercion leaves the public little basis to blame their incumbent for causing the restriction, although governance-based critique remains possible. The resulting gains in the incumbent's support should concentrate in communities directly exposed to the coercion. We consider Mainland China's 2021 pineapple ban, a case of non-retaliatory coercion that was abruptly announced and dismissed as pretextual across Taiwan's political spectrum. Using quarterly surveys from 2016 to 2024 and a difference-in-differences design exploiting county-level variation in pineapple production, we find that exposure to the ban increased approval, trust, and favorable evaluations of the incumbent president, with trust and leadership effects detectable even among opposition supporters. Records from Legislative Yuan debates are consistent with our proposed mechanism.