Edward Steinfeld, a China specialist, studies the political economy of reform in emerging market systems. His work focuses on the intertwined problems of state enterprise reform and financial restructuring in China. Professor Steinfeld received his B.A. and Ph.D. in political science from Harvard University, and has been on the MIT faculty since 1996. He has also served as a consultant to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the U.S. Department of State, and the World Bank, as well as non-governmental organizations, and corporations.
Professor Steinfeld is currently involved in three research projects. The first, a study of financial reform in China, examines the relationship between ideas – namely cognitive conceptions of markets on the part of political actors – and economic outcomes in reforming systems. A second project, conducted in conjunction with the World Bank and the Industrial Performance Center, examines the impact of globalization on Chinese industrial policy and structure and the global competitiveness of Chinese industrial producters. A third project is exploring China's rapidly-expanding energy sector and its ramifications for the global commons.