Economic History and Development Research Lab 

Duke Kunshan University

Faculty Lead: Prof. Camila Saez and Prof. Peiyuan Li

The Economic History and Development Research Lab at Duke Kunshan University offers undergraduate students a hands-on opportunity to engage in data-driven research on how historical economic processes, institutions, and events shape today’s world. Students will gain valuable skills in data collection, analysis, and academic research while contributing to meaningful projects in economic history. For more information, please contact Prof. Camila Fernanda Saez Muller at camila.saez.muller@dukekunshan.edu.cn and Prof. Peiyuan Li at peiyuan.li@dukekunshan.edu.cn.

Student Involvement
The lab will involve approximately 4-5 undergraduate students from majors such as PPE, Political Economy, History, and Data Science. Students will work under faculty guidance, learning to identify and gather historical data, prepare it for analysis, and interpret findings in relation to broader research questions.

Planned Activities

• Weekly Lab Meetings alternating between project updates and a reading club in which the group studies and discusses a different academic paper every two weeks to deepen understanding of methods and debates in economic history.

• Data Collection Projects where students gather, clean, and organize historical economic data from multiple sources.

• Data analysis students will apply statistical and interpretive techniques to explore research questions and produce outputs for the lab’s website and other academic outlets.

Skills Development
Students will gain:

• Competence in data collection, cleaning, and management

• Proficiency in statistical software for quantitative analysis

• Ability to critically read and discuss academic research

• Experience in literature review and contextual research

• Practice in presenting findings in written, oral, and visual formats

• An understanding of the research process from start to finish