Sinn Won HAN
Welcome to Sinn Won's academic homepage!
Welcome to Sinn Won's academic homepage!
I am a social demographer who studies low fertility challenges in the postindustrial world. Under this overarching theme, my ongoing research explores three topics: 1) Whether and to what extent the legacies of the global financial crisis—labor market uncertainties for youth and the rapid surge in home prices followed by global quantitative easing—related to the declining birth rate in many high-income countries? 2) Do sustained low fertility and population aging retard economic growth? If so, does the decline in economic dynamism (e.g., 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 studies low fertility challenges in the postindustrial world. Under this overarching theme, my ongoing research explores three topics: 1) Whether and to what extent the legacies of the global financial crisis—labor market uncertainties for youth and the rapid surge in home prices followed by global quantitative easing—related to the declining birth rate in many high-income countries? 2) Do sustained low fertility and population aging retard economic growth? If so, does the decline in economic dynamism (e.g., 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 include (1) whether and how individuals' views and perceptions towards childbearing are shaped by the normative context that valorizes 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 countries?
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 include (1) whether and how individuals' views and perceptions towards childbearing are shaped by the normative context that valorizes 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 countries?
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