I am a computational social scientist. Methodologically, I develop computational tools for the collection and analysis of text and network data from social media. Substantively, I study political communication under both authoritarian and democratic contexts from a comparative perspective.
I teach and research at The University of Hong Kong (HKU). Before this job, I took postdoc fellowships at UPenn’s Center for the Study of Contemporary China and NYU’s Center for Social Media and Politics.
See my vita for more information.
- Computational Social Science
- Political Communication
- Comparative Politics
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PhD in Political Science, 2019
Duke University
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MS in Statistical Science, 2019
Duke University
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Bachelor of Social Sciences, 2013
The University of Hong Kong
Courses
Computational Methods
Data Science in Politics and Public Administration (2021 Fall)
Comparative Political Communication
Politics and Public Opinion (2022 Spring)
Global Information Wars (2022 Spring)
Publications
Bail, Christopher A., Lisa P. Argyle, Taylor W. Brown, John P. Bumpus, Haohan Chen, M.B. Fallin Hunzaker, Jaemin Lee, Marcus Mann, Friedolin Merhout, and Alexander Volfovsky. 2018. “Exposure to Opposing Views on Social Media Can Increase Political Polarization.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 115, no. 37: 9216–9221. Link. PDF.
Chen, Haohan, and Herbert Kitschelt. Forthcoming. “Political Linkage Strategies and Social Investment Policies: Clientelism and Educational Policy in the Developing World.” The World Politics of Social Investment, Volume 1, edited by Bruno Palier and Silja Haeusermann. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Chen, Haohan, and Ruodan Zhang. Forthcoming. “Identifying Nonprofits by Scaling Mission and Activity with Word Embedding.” VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations.
Working Papers
Computational Methods
Chen, Haohan. “Embedding Concepts and Documents in One Space: A System for Valid and Replicable Text-as-data Measurement.” Paper
Chen, Haohan. “Bayesian Dynamic Network Modeling for Social Media Political Talk.” Paper
Chen, Haohan, and Brian Guay. “Measuring Political Polarization Online: Assessing Social Media-Based Measures Using Survey-Matched Twitter Data.”
Comparative Political Communication
Chen, Haohan. “Reputational Self-Censorship: Evidence from an Online Question-and-Answer Forum in China.” Paper
Inequality and Redistribution
Chen, Haohan. “Why the Poor Tolerate Inequality in Developing Democracies: Weak States and Clientelism.” Working paper
Nonprofits
Zhang, Ruodan, Haohan Chen, and Jill Nicholson-Crotty. “A New Bureaucratic Effect: Does government funding to public charities crowd out or crowd in volunteers?” R&R.
Zhang, Ruodan, Haohan Chen, Yuan Cheng. “The Responsive Sector? Exploring the Relationship Between Public Opinion on Climate Change and the Density of Environmental Nonprofits.”
Resources
Mind Maps of Political Economy
Below are mind maps summarizing a selection of important topics of political economy. I drew them when I reviewed the literature for my qualifying exam in 2015.
Preference Formation
Market, Growth, and Development
Electoral Politics
Political Economy of Geography
Microeconomics: Trade-off and Behavioral Economics