Research

My research in Marxian political economy has two connected strands. The first uses modern analytical methods to advance the theoretical foundations of Marxian economics. The second applies political economy to the study of contemporary capitalism and China.

Journal articles

1. Population Shrinkage as a Crisis of Time: Surplus Time, Aging, and Social Reproduction in China
   Weikai Chen
   Social Research: An International Quarterly. 2026, forthcoming
2. Marx’s Theory of Extra Surplus Value: Reconstruction and Implications for Uneven Development
   Weikai Chen, Ning Gao, and Kun Zhu
   Review of Radical Political Economics. 2026, published online
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3. Revisiting Complex Labor Reduction amid Technological Transformation: Theoretical Reconstruction and Practical Implications
   Weikai Chen and Kun Zhu
   Journal of Renmin University of China. 2026, 40(2) (in Chinese)
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4. The Evolving Role of State-Owned Enterprises in China’s Economic Stabilization
   Weikai Chen, Ningzhi He, and Hao Qi
   Science & Society. 2025, 89(4): 491–513
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5. The Law of Value and Involutionary Prices
   Weikai Chen and Lingxi Liu
   The Chinese Journal of Political Economy. 2024, vol. 31 (in Chinese)
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6. Analytical Political Economy: The Revival of Analytical Marxism in Economics
   Weikai Chen
   Foreign Theoretical Trends. 2024, no. 6 (in Chinese)
7. Marx’s Theory of Extra Surplus Value: A Review and Reconstruction
   Weikai Chen and Ning Gao
   China Review of Political Economy. 2024, 15(6) (in Chinese)
8. Technical Change, Income Distribution, and Profitability: Marx’s Law Revisited
   Weikai Chen
   Political Economy Quarterly. 2023, 2(4): 180–194
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9. The Convergence of Production Prices to Labor Values in a Dual-Channel Model
   Weikai Chen
   The Chinese Journal of Political Economy. 2019, vol. 15 (in Chinese)
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10. New Developments in Political Economy Research (2018)
    Weikai Chen, Zhixuan Feng, Chenxi Gao, and Bangxi Li
    China Review of Political Economy. 2019, 10(3) (in Chinese)
11. New Developments in Political Economy Research (2017)
    Zhixuan Feng, Weikai Chen, and Bangxi Li
    China Review of Political Economy. 2018, 9(3) (in Chinese)
12. New Developments in Political Economy Research (2016)
    Weikai Chen and Fengyi Liu
    China Review of Political Economy. 2017, 8(3) (in Chinese)
13. Matching Impacts of School Admission Mechanisms: An Agent-Based Approach
    Shu-heng Chen, Connie Houning Wang, and Weikai Chen
    Eastern Economic Journal. 2017, 43(2): 217–241
    DOI ↗
14. New Developments in Political Economy Research (2015)
    Weikai Chen and Fengyi Liu
    China Review of Political Economy. 2016, 7(3) (in Chinese)

Working Papers

• Domestic demand complexity and wage-led growth, with Hao Qi, Xinyuan Gao, and Biao Huang.

• Population structure and the production and use of surplus: revisiting the demographic dividend.

• Technological monopoly and income distribution in a Classical-Marxian framework, with Biao Huang.

• Persistent exploitation with intertemporal reproducible solution in pre-industrial economies, with Naoki Yoshihara, UMass Amherst Economics Working Paper, 2019-10.

• Technical change, income distribution, and profitability in multisector linear economies, UMass Amherst Economics Working Papers, 273.

Other Publications

• Chen, Weikai, Kun Zhu, and Ning Gao, trans. "The Limits of Supply Chain Resilience." Foreign Theoretical Trends, no. 6, 2023. (in Chinese)

• Chen, Weikai, and Lu Men. "Directions for Reforming the Distribution System of State-Owned Enterprises." Enterprise Reform and Development, no. 5, 2023. (in Chinese)

Talks and Visits

• Department seminar, Kyungpook National University, April 28, 2023.

• Visiting scholar, Santa Fe Institute, January-February 2023.

• Research assistant, Santa Fe Institute, 2015-2020, advised by Samuel Bowles.

• Complex Systems Summer School, Santa Fe Institute, 2017.

• Workshop on Complexity and Economics, Fields Institute, 2016.

Projects

• New Forms of Contemporary Monopoly Capital and Their Effects, National Social Science Fund Youth Project, 2023.

• Mathematical Methods in Marxian Political Economy, Renmin University of China Research Fund, completed.