Nathan PENG
Nathan’s research is dedicated to alleviating poverty and inequality in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Singapore and Indonesia. His work aims to help us better understand the forces influencing inequality, underdevelopment, and poverty, as well as their consequences. He also studies how political, social, and economic forces interact to determine the long-term developmental potential of a country. To do this, he employs both qualitative and quantitative methodology, switching between interviews, survey experiments, geospatial analysis, clustering, and various regression techniques depending on the specific research question. Prior to his academic calling, he spent five years in public policy as part of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Social and Family Development in Singapore working on similar issues of economic strategy, helping the poor, and lowering inequality.
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Social Science, Singapore Management University, 2011
Research Interests
- Development and Poverty Alleviation
- Public Policy
- Comparative Politics
Research Areas and Areas of Expertise
Strategic Priorities
HighlightsBridges rigorous academic research with policy relevance and public discourse; recognized for contributions to understanding inequality and social policy in Singapore; combines quantitative and qualitative methods; actively engages with media and government stakeholders.
Focused research areas include Inequality and social compact in Singapore; political economy of development in Indonesia and Singapore; institutional preferences in aid-receiving countries; impact of socioeconomic diversity on cross-class relations; patronage and public management under slow growth.
- Collaborator for Social Science and Humanities Research Fellowship Grant for "Unite or Divide? How Exposure To Socioeconomic Diversity Shapes Cross-Class Relations" (PI: Jacinth Tan), 2023-
- Asia Pacific Political Science Research and Publication Conference Grant, 2022
- American Political Science Association (APSA) Asia Fellow, 2021
- Overseas Postgraduate Scholarship, Singapore Management University, Singapore, 2017-2022
Showing up to 6 latest publications from the past 5 years.
- Essays on the political economy of equality, development, and influence in Indonesia and Singapore [2023]N PengUniversity of British Columbia, 2023
Nathan’s research is dedicated to alleviating poverty and inequality in Southeast Asia, with a focus on Singapore and Indonesia. His work aims to help us better understand the forces influencing inequality, underdevelopment, and poverty, as well as their consequences. He also studies how political, social, and economic forces interact to determine the long-term developmental potential of a country. To do this, he employs both qualitative and quantitative methodology, switching between interviews, survey experiments, geospatial analysis, clustering, and various regression techniques depending on the specific research question. Prior to his academic calling, he spent five years in public policy as part of the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Social and Family Development in Singapore working on similar issues of economic strategy, helping the poor, and lowering inequality.
Qualifications
- Bachelor of Social Science, Singapore Management University, 2011
Research Interests
- Development and Poverty Alleviation
- Public Policy
- Comparative Politics