Welcome! My name is Siyao Li, and I am an Assistant Professor of International Affairs at the University of Pittsburgh. 

I am an Assistant Professor of International Affairs with a focus on international political economy at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and an affiliated faculty with the University of Pittsburgh Department of Political Science.

My research focuses on the politics of foreign direct investment and trade, and business-government relations. It examines how two interrelated trends change our understanding of world politics: the salience of technology and intangible assets in both firm activity and state-to-state competition, and the resurgence of geopolitics in international economic policies and cooperation. I employ a mixed method approach, including statistical analysis, survey experiments, text analysis, field interviews, and case studies to study relevant topics. I also specialize in China’s political economy and incorporate the China case into my research.  

My book project investigates why and how foreign direct investment into weak institutional environments achieve property protection through host government institutions, especially in terms of intangible assets. My other papers are published at Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of European Public Policy, and Political Science Research and Methods. 

I am currently a non-resident Center Associate with the University of Pennsylvania's Center for the Study of Contemporary China. I obtained my PhD in Political Science from the University of Pennsylvania in 2022. I also hold a Master’s degree in Statistics from The Wharton School. Previously, I was a GPEP predoctoral fellow at Georgetown University's Mortara Center for International Studies for the 2020-2021 academic year. I am a recipient of the International Studies Association's IPE Best Graduate Student Paper award.