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m.m.xue [at] lse.ac.uk
melanie.m.xue [at] gmail.com
Academic Employment
Assistant Professor of Economic History, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), September 2021 --
New York University - Abu Dhabi
Assistant Professor of Economics, September 2020 -- August 2022 (On leave 2021-2022)
Assistant Professor/Faculty Fellow (Year Zero), September 2019 -- August 2020
Postdoctoral Fellow, Northwestern University, Department of Economics and Center for Economic History, September 2017 -- August 2019 (Supervisor: Joel Mokyr)
Visiting Positions
Visiting Fellow, Toulouse School of Economics, Institute for Advanced Study, March 2018 -- April 2018
Visiting Scholar, Brown University, Department of Economics, January 2017 -- August 2017
Education
Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), September 2015 -- December 2017
Concentration: Economic History and Economic Development
Mentor: Paola Giuliano
PhD in Economics, George Mason University, 2015
MA in Finance, Claremont McKennna College, 2010
BA in Economics, Fudan University (minor in Legal Studies), 2009
Fields of Interest
Economic History, Political Economy, Cultural Economics, Development Economics
Professional Activities
Referee -- Quarterly Journal of Economics, Journal of Political Economy, American Economic Review: Insights, Journal of the European Economic Association, Economic Journal, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Economic Growth, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Human Resources, European Economic Review, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of Comparative Economics, Journal of Population Economics, Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Economic Inquiry, Cambridge Journal of Economics, China Economic Review; Journal of Economic History, Economic History Review, Explorations in Economic History, European Review of Economic History, Research in Economic History, Economic History of Developing Regions, Australian Economic History Review; Science; Economics and Politics, Journal of Peace Research; Princeton University Press, Palgrave Macmillan; Israel Science Foundation, Swiss National Science Foundation.
Invited Seminars
Scheduled: Trinity College Dublin, UC3M, St Andrews, University of Manchester, Boston University, Reichman University, Hebrew University of Jerusalem
"High-Value Work and the Rise of Women"
Queen Mary (May 2022); Chicago Booth (April 2022); LSE (February 2021); Amherst College (Asian Languages and Civilizations, April 2019); Stockholm School of Economics (SITE, February 2019); Trinity College (December 2018); Université Catholique de Louvain (June 2018); University of Copenhagen (March 2018); NYU Stern (October 2017); Northwestern (April 2017); Brown (February 2017); Toulouse IAST (November 2016); University of Arizona (October 2016); Chapman University (October 2016); UNSW Sydney (September 2016); Monash (August 2016); Bologna (May 2016); UC Davis (March 2016).
"Autocratic Rule and Social Capital"
Yale University (September 2021); Chicago Harris (February 2019); NYU Abu Dhabi (February 2019); CKGSB (January 2019); UC San Diego (November 2018); Higher School of Economics (March 2018); UC Irvine (June 2017); Williams College (March 2017); Brown (February 2017); Bonn (November 2016); HKUST (September 2016); NUS Business School (August 2016); UCLA Anderson Brown Bag (May 2016); UCLA Economic History Proseminar (April 2016).
"Women and Asylums"
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (May 2022); University of Western Australia (May 2022); King's College London (March 2022); Warwick (March 2022); LSE (October 2021); Brown Growth Breakfast (April 2021); Northwestern Economic History Lunch (March 2021).
"The Short- and Long-Run Effects of Affirmative Action"
Oxford (May 2022); ISER Macro/Trade Workshop (March 2022); International Macro History Online Seminar (February 2022); LSE Asia Economic History Seminar (January 2022); Korea University (November 2021); University College London (SSEES, November 2021); JEES (November 2021); POLECONUK Webinar (October 2021); Peking University (June 2021).
"Folklore"
C-BID (October 2021); Swansea (March 2021); Bonn (October 2020); Stellenbosch University (LEAP, July 2020); HKU (January 2020); George Mason (March 2019); Nottingham (February 2019); Northwestern (November 2018); Universitat Pompeu Fabra (April 2018); New Economic School (March 2018); Toulouse IAST (March 2018).
Conference Presentations (including scheduled)
2022 BSE Summer Forum, ASSA (presenter; discussant), EHA, EHS, STEG Workshop: Political Economy and Public Investment, PKU Workshop on Comparative Political Selection.
2021 Oxford-Warwick-LSE Workshop in Economic History, ``Sex Ratios and Missing Girls in History" Online Series (invited), SEA -- Economic Growth Mini Conference, EHS, SSHA (2).
2020 BREAD/CEPR/STICERD/TCD Conference on Development Economics.
2019 NBER Organizational Economics Meeting, NYU QCSS-3, IZA/SOLE Transatlantic Meeting for Labor Economists, WPSA Mini-Conference on Autocratic Politics, ASREC.
2018 Barcelona GSE Summer Forum: V Calvó-Armengol International Prize Workshop, Barcelona GSE Summer Forum: Towards Sustained Economic Growth, Northwestern "Narrow Corridor" Book Conference, Deep-Rooted Factors in Comparative Development Conference, Northwestern Economic History of Religion Conference (discussant), Life & Legacy of Douglass North Conference, EHA (presenter; discussant), Cliometric Society, WEHC Boston (2), Asian Historical Economics Conference, North American Meeting of the Econometric Society.
2017 NBER Political Economy Meeting, NBER Summer Institute - Income Distribution and Macroeconomics, ASSA (3), NEUDC, All-UC Economic History Conference, WEAI-Clio, ASREC.
2016 NBER Summer Institute - Development of the American Economy, PacDev, EHA, All-UC Economic History Conference, IOEA (Corsica), HEDG Mini-Conference, ASREC.
2015 NBER Chinese Economy Meeting (discussant), NEUDC, All-UC Economic History Conference, IRES Graduate Student Workshop, Social Science History Association, World Economic History Conference, ASREC.
2014 "Deep Causes of Economic Development" Conference (Utrecht), EHA, Washington Area Development Economics Symposium, Economic History Society, International Society for New Institutional Economics, Southern Economic Association, Hong Kong Economic Association.
Invited Lectures
CEPR Conference "The Chinese Economy in the Long Run", University of Manchester, October 2022
Recent Discussions
"Herding, Warfare, and a Culture of Honor: Global Evidence", ASSA, January 2022
"Riding the Monsoon: Geography and Iron Age Trade in the Indian Ocean", ASSA, January 2022
"Informal Succession Institutions and Autocratic Survival: Evidence from Ancient China", EHA, October 2021
"On the Origins of Historical Inheritance Customs, Gender Norms and Economic Performance", YSI Economic History Graduate Webinar, May 2021
"Police Complicity in Organized Prostitution", NYU Quantitative China Studies Seminar, April 2021
Workshops & Sessions Organized
2022 Co-organizer, "The Infrastructure of Power in East Asian Empires", WEHC Paris
2022 Organizer, Workshop "History, Culture and Popular Beliefs", LSE
2021 Organizer, "Gender Norms in a Historical Perspective", EHS
Courses Taught
2022-2023 (scheduled) China since 1800: Culture, Institutions and Economic Growth, LSE;
Quantitative Analysis in Economic History, LSE
2021-2022 The Making of an Economic Superpower: China since 1850, LSE
Spring 2020/2021 Global Economic, Political and Social Development Since 1500, NYU Abu Dhabi
Fall 2017/2018 Topics in Economic History: Economic History of China, Northwestern University
Spring 2015 Topics in Economic History, George Mason University