Victor C. Shih is a political economist at Northwestern University specializing in China. An immigrant to the United States from Hong Kong, Dr Shih received his doctorate in Government from Harvard University, where he researched banking sector reform in China with the support of the Jacob K. Javits Fellowship and the Fulbright Fellowship. He is the author of numerous articles appearing in academic and business journals, including The China Quarterly and The Far Eastern Economic Review, and frequent adviser to the private sector on the banking industry in China. His current research concerns the political economy of fiscal transfers in China and Chinese policies toward ethnic minorities. Dr Shih holds a B.A. from the George Washington University, where he studied on a University Presidential Fellowship and graduated summa cum laude in East Asian studies with a minor in economics.