Melanie Meng Xue
I am a tenure-track assistant professor (September 2020- ) in the Social Science Division at New York University (AD). Before joining NYUAD, I spent time at UCLA Anderson and Northwestern. My research lies at the intersection of economic history and political economy. I have studied the rise of women, the self-perpetuation of authoritarian regimes, and the evolution of antisocial behavior in contexts of imperial and modern China. By tracing the impact of historical events over time and in various institutional settings, my work isolates the role of values, beliefs and norms in shaping economic and political disparities. Another strand of my research concerns the decoding of folklore and mythology as a new approach to understanding historical values.