Each year the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center offers fellowship opportunities to recent graduates to further their research and engage with scholars at Stanford. Postdoctoral fellows have the opportunity to develop their dissertations for publication, present their research to the Stanford community, and participate in Center activities.

Fellows often go on to pursue teaching positions and advisory roles at top universities and research organizations around the world. Into the future, they remain engaged with the Center and continue to contribute to Shorenstein APARC publications, conferences and related activities.

Shorenstein APARC is pleased to welcome three postdoctoral fellows for the 2015-16 academic year:

Asia Health Policy Fellow

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Saingam’s research interests are public health, substance abuse, drug policy and Southeast Asia. While at Shorenstein APARC, she will research the evolution of substance-abuse control measures and related policy in Thailand.

Saingam seeks to identify potentially effective policy directions suitable for Thailand, and other developing countries in Southeast and East Asia.

“There are a lot of lessons to be learned from substance abuse policy implementations in other countries…coping and dealing with substance abuse is a complex story and cannot respond successfully with only one strategy.”

Saingam completed her doctorate in epidemiology at the Prince of Songkla University in 2012, and has served as a researcher at the University’s epidemiology unit since, as well as a researcher at the Thailand Substance Abuse Academic Network since 2014.

Shorenstein APARC Postdoctoral Fellows

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Chang’s research interests are comparative policy analysis and political institutions in East Asia, mainly South Korea and Japan. While at Shorenstein APARC, Chang will conduct research on how countries respond differently to the same external challenges, and how institutions are interpreted and applied in different ways.

His dissertation, which he seeks to build upon, is titled “The Sources of Japanese Conduct: Asymmetric Security Dependence, Role Conceptions, and the Reactive Behavior in response to U.S. Demands.” It is a qualitative comparative case study of how key U.S. allies in Asia – namely Japan and South Korea – and major powers in Europe - the United Kingdom and France responded to the U.S.-led Persian Gulf War and the Iraq War.

“East Asia is a treasure island of new theory building because some of the big challenges facing East Asia – finding a new role for Japan, denuclearization of North Korea, unification of the Korean peninsula, democratization of China and reconfiguration of its relations with the world, and development and integration of Southeast Asian countries – are truly new ones…”

Chang completed his doctorate in political science from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in 2014.

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Ravanilla’s research interests are political economy and governance, comparative politics and Southeast Asia. While at Shorenstein APARC, Ravanilla will research how political selection impacts governance, and evaluate possible routes for incentivizing capable and virtuous citizens to run for public office.

His project titled “Nudging Good Politicians” looks at the case of the Sangguniang Kabataan, a governing body in the Philippines comprised of elected youth leaders. Ravanilla aims to apply his research to develop and scale up programs for politicians, especially those at the onset of their careers, which would include specialized leadership training and merit-based endorsement.

“If we could design a policy that screens-in and incentivizes competent and honest citizens to run for office, would it play a catalytic role in improving the quality of the political class, and ultimately, the quality of government?”

Ravanilla is also a Southeast Asia Research Group (SEAREG) Young Southeast Asia Fellow for 2015-16. He will complete his doctorate in political science and public policy from the University of Michigan in summer 2015.

In conversation with Shorenstein APARC, Takeo Hoshi, Stanford professor and director of the Japan Program, discusses his intial draw to studying the Japanese economy, and its intersections with finance and public policy. Hoshi highlights some of his recent research and the Japan Program's upcoming activities, including a new student course focused on innovation-based economic growth in Silicon Valley and Japan.

What led you to study the Japanese economy?

I majored in social sciences as an undergrad at the University of Tokyo. I was especially intrigued by macroeconomics – the study of the aggregate economy (GDP growth, inflation, unemployment, etc.).  I came to the United States to pursue graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology. In the 1980s, Japan’s economy was growing relatively fast and performing better than the United States and other advanced economies. Japan was boring for a macroeconomist. But soon after I got my doctorate in economics, Japan started to encounter some economic problems and became interesting, so this is what I started to investigate. I shifted my focus from theoretical work to empirical work, and began to look at the Japanese economy, especially its financial aspects.

Can you tell us more about your current research focus?

I have continued to do research on Japan’s financial system. I have just completed two papers on this subject. One examines financial regulatory changes in Japan after the global financial crisis, and the second studies the development of capital market regulations in Japan, again focusing on the period after the global financial crisis. I also have a research project on institutional foundations for innovation-based economic growth. I work with Kenji Kushida, also at Shorenstein APARC, and Richard Dasher, at the U.S.-Asia Technology Management Center, for this project. We study the economy seen in Silicon Valley, perhaps the best example of innovation-based economic growth, and examine what Japan needs to do to achieve similar growth. For example, here in Silicon Valley, venture capital plays a very important role in providing capital to startups. In Japan, the role and size of venture capital is much smaller. We’ve been researching to find out why this is. Good ideas always exist in a society, but depending on the condition of the economy and policies created, entrepreneurs may find barriers to getting them anywhere without access to capital. It’s about connecting capital to the right ideas at the right time.

What’s ahead for the Japan Program this year?

The Japan Program has several events coming up. In April, an event will focus on international terrorism and how Japan faces newer security threats such as the Islamic State. Given the recent killings of the Japanese hostages, the threat of international terrorism is evident to people in Japan. For U.S. citizens, it’s been apparent for awhile, but for Japanese citizens it is a more recent realization. The Japan Program also has an upcoming project that highlights the 70^th anniversary of World War II, which is being commemorated this year. At the 50^th and 60^th anniversaries of the War, the prime minister of Japan gave a short statement reflecting on Japan’s past actions and reinforcing its pacifist vision for the future. The current leader Shinzo Abe will also do this. Colleagues from Shorenstein APARC and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies have been asked to write a short statement that they would give if they were in the Prime Minister’s shoes. A broad cross section of faculty authors coming from different disciplines are participating and will provide diverse views. The collection of statements will be compiled into a report (in both English and Japanese).

This spring, you’re teaching a new course Innovation Based Economic Growth. What makes this course unique?

I’m very excited to be back teaching again. Since arriving at Stanford in 2011, I haven’t yet taught a course, so it’s a great opportunity. It’s a project-based course focused on innovation policy in Japan. Students will form groups and perform research on several policies aimed at encouraging innovations in Japanese businesses. Students will then analyze those policies once they are implemented. In the process, students will develop a framework for policy evaluation. And for some of those policies, we may be able to collaborate with a part of the Japanese government to implement a policy evaluation framework.

Tell us something we don’t know about you.

I am a devote San Diego Chargers fan. And, as a child, my dream job was to own a hardware store.