MELANIE MENG XUE
Assistant Professor of Economic History
London School of Economics
Houghton Street
London WC2A 2AE
United Kingdom
Email: m.m.xue@lse.ac.uk
Please contact me by email if you are interested in gaining research experience. Previous part-time research assistants have gone on to PhD programs at institutions such as LSE, Minnesota, NYU, Toronto, and WUSTL, and to pre-doctoral positions at Oxford and Manchester.
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I am an Assistant Professor of Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a Research Affiliate at the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR). My research interests include political economy, gender, culture and narrative, and early modern and modern China.
My work examines the rise of women and the self-perpetuation of authoritarian regimes, and the long-term effects of affirmative action policies. By tracing the impact of historical events over time and in various institutional settings, my work centers on the role of values, beliefs, and norms in shaping economic and political disparities.
In my research on historical narratives, I have found that folklore is a crucial source of cultural values. In a more recent project, I explore cultural change following the Industrial Revolution through the study of proverbs. Another ongoing line of inquiry concerns cultural values in China across space and time, within and between ethnic groups. A book project expanding this line of research is currently in progress.
During the 2025–26 academic year, I will be on sabbatical and spending the fall semester at Yale.