Stephen Schick is a PhD Candidate in Political Science and International Relations researching China through the lenses of comparative and international political economy. His dissertation investigates how strategic interactions between political and economic elites shape industrial and fiscal policies, social welfare, and state responsiveness. His other research areas include: assessing how economic interdependence and foreign investment affect conflict between states, the role of economic conditions in shaping propaganda, self censorship's impact on political attitudes and expression, and the effects of authoritarian institutions on wealth concentration and global wealth chains. 

He holds extensive experience in quantitative and mixed-methods research using R and Python, particularly in conducting large-n panel studies of states and firms, network analyses, and text analyses using LLMs, topic modeling, and word embeddings, as well as in conducting interviews and archival research in both English and Chinese. Having studied Chinese langauge for over twelve years, he has spent considerable time in China for fieldwork, language study, and travel.