Sinn Won HAN
Welcome to Sinn Won's academic homepage!
Welcome to Sinn Won's academic homepage!
I am a social demographer who investigates low fertility challenges in the postindustrial world. Under this overarching theme, my current research explores three topics: (1) Are the lingering legacies of the global financial crisis—labor market uncertainties for youth and a rapid surge in housing prices followed by global quantitative easing—related to the declining fertility rate in many postindustrial countries since the 2010s? (2) Do sustained low fertility and population aging retard economic growth? If so, does the decline in economic dynamism (i.e., declining technological innovations and entrepreneurship) mediates the two phenomena? (3) Is the left-right political fertility gap indeed the case in advance industrial democracies, as some politicians and right-wing social pundits are avidly putting it?
I am a social demographer who investigates low fertility challenges in the postindustrial world. Under this overarching theme, my current research explores three topics: (1) Are the lingering legacies of the global financial crisis—labor market uncertainties for youth and a rapid surge in housing prices followed by global quantitative easing—related to the declining fertility rate in many postindustrial countries since the 2010s? (2) Do sustained low fertility and population aging retard economic growth? If so, does the decline in economic dynamism (i.e., declining technological innovations and entrepreneurship) mediates the two phenomena? (3) Is the left-right political fertility gap indeed the case in advance industrial democracies, as some politicians and right-wing social pundits are avidly putting it?
My dissertation, The Normative Foundations of Postindustrial Fertility Variation, explored the sources of the variation in fertility levels across high-income countries. Questions that I addressed in my dissertation include (1) whether and how individuals' views and perceptions towards childbearing are shaped by the normative context that valorises the desirable roles of men and women (Population and Development Review, European Sociological Review), and (2) how people's gender-role beliefs and visions of family life have differently evolved in different societies?
My dissertation, The Normative Foundations of Postindustrial Fertility Variation, explored the sources of the variation in fertility levels across high-income countries. Questions that I addressed in my dissertation include (1) whether and how individuals' views and perceptions towards childbearing are shaped by the normative context that valorises the desirable roles of men and women (Population and Development Review, European Sociological Review), and (2) how people's gender-role beliefs and visions of family life have differently evolved in different societies?
My previous research projects tested the predictions of two major theoretical frameworks—SDT theory & gender equity theory—by analyzing diverging fertility trends in postindustrial regions of Europe since the 1990s (Population and Development Review) and analyzed cross-national trends in college-educated women's educational hypogamy (Demography).
My previous research projects tested the predictions of two major theoretical frameworks—SDT theory & gender equity theory—by analyzing diverging fertility trends in postindustrial regions of Europe since the 1990s (Population and Development Review) and analyzed cross-national trends in college-educated women's educational hypogamy (Demography).
I teach and research at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as an assistant professor of sociology. Before joining HKU, I was a postdoctoral associate in Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University. I obtained my doctoral degree in sociology at Harvard University.
I teach and research at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) as an assistant professor of sociology. Before joining HKU, I was a postdoctoral associate in Jeb E. Brooks School of Public Policy at Cornell University. I obtained my doctoral degree in sociology at Harvard University.
Photography by Brian Tam, HKU