Meina Cai

Assistant Professor of Political Science and Asian and Asian American Studies

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Meina Cai is an assistant professor of political science and Asian/Asian American Studies Institute. Her research interests lie in the political economy of development in transition economies. Her current research focuses on land property rights, public finance, rural governance and development in China. She received her Ph.D. in political science and M.Sc in agricultural and applied economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Prior to joining UConn, she was a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard’s Fairbank Center for Chinese Studies. Her publications appear in World Development, Journal of Peasant Studies, Environmental Research, Urban Studies, Land Use Policy, among others. 

 

Most recent publications

Journal articles

Meina Cai, Ilia Murtazashvili, Jennifer Murtazashvili, and Hui Wang. “Sugarcoating the Bitter Pill: Compensation, Land Governance, and Opposition to Land Expropriation in China.” Journal of Peasant Studies. Forthcoming.

Meina Cai, Jianyong Fan, Chunhui Ye, and Qi Zhang. 2020. “Government Debt, Land Financing, and Distributive Justice in China.” Urban Studies.

Meina Cai, Ilia Murtazashvili, Jennifer Murtazashvili, and Raufhon Salahodjaev. 2020. “Patience and Climate Change Policy: Global Evidence.” Environmental Research 186. 109552.

Meina Cai, Pengfei Liu and Hui Wang. 2020. “Land Commodification and Hukou Policy innovation in China.” Journal of Chinese Governance. 

Meina Cai, Pengfei Liu and Hui Wang. 2020. “Political Trust, Risk Preference, and Policy Support: A Study of Land-dispossessed Villagers in China.” World Development 125. 104687.

Meina Cai, Ilia Murtazashvili, and Jennifer Murtazashvili. 2020. “The Politics of Land Property Regimes.” Journal of Institutional Economics 16: 151-167. 

Meina Cai, Ilia Murtazashvili, Jennifer Murtazashvili, and Raufhon Salahodjaev. 2020. “Individualism and Governance of the Commons.” Public Choice 184 (1): 175-195 . 

 

Book

Colin Harris, Meina Cai, Ilia Murtazashvili, and Jennifer Murtazashvili. The Origins and Consequences of Property Rights: Austrian, Public Choice, and Institutional Economics Perspectives. Cambridge University Press (Elements series in Austrian Economics). Forthcoming.

 

Undergraduate courses

POLS 1202 Introduction to Comparative Politics

POLS 2072Q Quantitative Methods in Political Science

POLS 3245 Chinese Politics and Economy

POLS 3250 Political Economy of East Asia

 

Graduate courses

POLS5240 Comparative Political Economy 

POLS5615 Qualitative Methods in Political Science