Junbing Zhu is currently a PhD candidate of Free University of Berlin at the Department of Business and Economics and the Institute of East European Studies with the support from China Scholarship Council. Her doctoral research project is about the effect of cultural diversity on economic and human development, including both theoretical and empirical studies. She was a research assistant of Professor Grigoriadis from September to November 2017, for the research of state history and development. She holds a master's degree and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Finance and Economics in Beijing, China. Her master project was about cognitive ability and entrepreneurial behavior and the paper is published on the Economic Research Journal, the best economic journal in China.

Cultural Diversity and Development

The research project focuses on the relationship between cultural diversity and development from a comparative perspective. Differently from most of existing studies, institutions are considered in this project which affect individuals’ behavior through which cultural diversity exerts its influences. Channels behind are also explored, such as human capital accumulation and investment. The theoretical analysis shows that effects of cultural diversity are different under different institutions. The quantitative effect is also identified through empirical studies. Apart from the static effect of current diversity, the dynamics of the effect and the coevolution of cultural diversity and development in history will also be examined.