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Research Staff
ITO, Asei

Research Staff

ITO, Asei

Division	Department of Comparative Contemporary Economics
Research Fields	The Chinese Economy
E-mail	aseiiss.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Teaching and Research Appointments

September 2022- May 2023	Visiting Scholar, Harvard Yenching Institute
April 2017 -	Associate Professor, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
April 2015 - March 2017	Lecturer, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo
April 2012 -	Project Research Associate, Institute of Social Science, The University of Tokyo

Topics of Research

1Chinese innovation and upgrading of industriay in China
2Chinese outward investment and development assistance
3Chinese Political Economy
4Comparative studies on Asian and emerging economies

Selected Publications

Ito, Asei, Jaehwan Lim, & Hongyong Zhang. “Remembering Li Keqiang: Policy Divergence in Zhongnanhai and Its Economic Consequences,” The China Quarterly, pp. 1–19, March 2025.
Ito, Asei, Jaehwan Lim, & Hongyong Zhang. “Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches as Data,” Asia-Pacific Review, 31(2), pp. 13–49, October 2024.
Lim, Jaehwan, Asei Ito, & Hongyong Zhang. “Uncovering Xi Jinping's Policy Agenda: Text As Data Approach,” The Developing Economies, 63(1), pp. 9–46, September 2024.
Ito, Asei. “Import Substitution Digitalization Strategies? Examining China’s Protectionism “Myth”,” in Kobe University Monograph Series in Social Science Research, pp. 11–25, August 2024.
Ito, Asei, Lim, Jaehwan, and Zhang, Hongyong. (2024) Xi Jinping’s Important Speeches as Data. Asia-Pacific Review, 31(2), 13-49.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13439006.2024.2398371
“Uncovering Xi Jinping’s Policy Agenda: Text as Data Approach.” Lim, Jaehwan, Ito, Asei, and Zhang, Hongyong, The Developing Economies, (2024).
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/deve.12418
Asei Ito, Jaehwan Lim, Hongyong Zhang, “Political Visits and Firm Value Evidence from central leaders’ local tours in China”, RIETI Discussion Paper Series, 23-E-050
Jaehwan Lim, Asei Ito, Hongyong Zhang. “Policy Agenda and Trajectory of the Xi Jinping Administration: Textual evidence from 2012 to 2022”, RIETI Policy Discussion Paper Series, 23-P-008
Asei Ito, Jaehwan Lim, Hongyong Zhang. “Remembering Li Keqiang: From divergence to convergence in Zhongnanhai”, Harvard-Yenching Institute Working Paper Series.
“Catching the political leader's signal: Economic policy uncertainty and firm investment in China.” Ito, Asei, Jaehwan Lim, and Hongyong Zhang, China Economic Review, (2023): 102035.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043951X23001207
“Digital China: Policy Initiatives, Progress, and Challenges”, in Xinxin Ma and Cheng Tang ed. Growth Mechanisms and Sustainable Development of the Chinese Economy: Comparison with Japanese Experiences, Springer, 2022.
Cato, Susumu, et al. “Social media infodemics and social distancing under the COVID-19 pandemic: public good provisions under uncertainty.” Global Health Action 14.1 (2021): 1995958.
Shoji, Masahiro, et al. “Prosociality and the uptake of COVID-19 contact tracing apps: survey analysis of intergenerational differences in Japan.” JMIR mHealth and uHealth 9.8 (2021): e29923.
Cato, Susumu, et al. “The bright and dark sides of social media usage during the COVID-19 pandemic: Survey evidence from Japan.” International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction 54 (2021): 102034.
“Japan’s Economic Pragmatism: Cooperating and Competing with China,” Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)，Strategic Japan 2021，Working Paper，April 5,2021．
“The Asian Economy: Contemporary Issues and Challenges”, London and New York: Routledge (Goto, Kenta, Tamaki Endo, Asei Ito ed.), July 2020.
“Bottom-up Industrialization in the People's Republic of China: A Case Study of Industries Producing Small Things in Zhejiang”, Kazuko Furuta and Linda Grove eds., Imitation, Counterfeiting and the Quality of Goods in Modern Asian History, pp.245-281, Springer, October 2017.
“Multi-level and Multi-route Innovation Policies in China: A Programme Evaluation Based on Firm-level Data”,Millenial Asia, Vol 8, Issue 1,April 2017, pp.78-107 (Asei ITO, Zhuoran LI and Min WANG).
Asei Ito, “The End of ‘Workshop of the World’?: New Challenges for China and the Global Manufacturing Equilibrium”, Newsletter of the Institute of Social Science, the University of Tokyo, 2013.
Asei Ito, “Industrial Agglomeration and Dispersion in China: Evidence from Province- and City-Level Data in the 2000s”, paper presented at the Asia Pacific Economic Association, conference on “China and the World Economy”, 15-16th, March, 2013, at the University of Tokyo.
Asei Ito, “Industrial Relocation from Coastal China: An Empirical Analysis on ‘the Domestic Flying Geese Pattern’”, Journal of Chinese Economic Studies, Vol.10, No.1, 2013(in Japanese).
Asei Ito, “Growth and Expansion of Industrial Cluster in Pearl River Delta: A Case Study of Guzhen Lighting Industry”, Mita Journal of Economics, Vol.105, No.3, 2012(in Japanese).
“Transformations of Industrial Clusters in Japan: Clustering and ‘Made in Japan’ ”, Guangdong Science and Technology, No.280, pp.51-60, 2012(in Chinese).
“From a ‘Black Market’ to a ‘Pantheon of Miscellaneous Goods’: A Regional Development in Yiwu, China”, Hiroyuki Kato ed., Urbanization and Industrial Agglomerations in Yangtze Delta, Keiso Shobo, pp.152-177, 2012(in Japanese).
“Agglomeration Economies with Heterogeneous firms in China: Evidence from Firm-Level Data in 2007” Journal of Social Science, Vol.63, No.3, pp.121-141, 2011.

Educational Activities

Graduate School of Economics, The University of Tokyo	World Economy (Autumn semester) Chinese Economy (Autumn semester) Area Study Workshop (Spring and Autumn semesters)
Komaba campus, The University of Tokyo	All-University Independent Research Seminar, "Seminar on Contemporary China" (Spring semester)
The Open University of Japan	Politics and Economy of Emerging Asia (Spring and Autumn semesters)