Xian Huang is an assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University. Her research has focused on the politics of social inequality and redistribution with a regional focus on China. Her research has appeared in Governance, Social Science Research, The China Quarterly, Journal of Contemporary China, Journal of Chinese Political Science, and China: An International Journal.

"This book is a fundamental resource for scholars and students who are interested in social policy and regime stability in China." -- Kerry Ratigan, Journal of Chinese Political Science

"Huang's book contributes richly to the growing literature of welfare regimes under authoritarian rule. Providing a wealth of information on the expansion of social welfare in China, she traces how variation in fiscal constraints and social risks shape how local officials strategically implement national programs. The resultant subnational variation in health insurance programs produce distinct patterns of stratified social welfare systems, a dynamic that sheds light on welfare expansion in the absence of electoral accountability more generally" -- Melani Cammett , Clarence Dillon Professor of International Affairs, Harvard University

"Xian Huang has written a brilliant book on the policy and politics of health care in China. Her analysis powerfully combines quantitative and qualitative evidence and reveals the deep-rooted inequalities in access to and quality of health care enjoyed by different groups of Chinese citizens. The lessons are profound and sobering." -- Qin Gao , Professor of Social Policy and Social Work; Director, China Center for Social Policy, Columbia University

"Huang's excellent book addresses three questions: Why do authoritarian leaders expand social welfare in the absence of democratic pressures to do so? What strategies do authoritarians use to divide welfare resources between elites and masses? What accounts for variation in the policy models adopted by regions? Relying on prodigious multi-method research, Huang studies Chinese leaders' decisions to dramatically expand social health insurance from 2000. She finds a strategy of 'stratified expansion' that greatly broadened citizens' access while preserving elites' privileges. Further, she shows how subnational leaders adapted the center's strategies to regions' fiscal and social constraints. Huang's arguments are innovative and compelling. Her book greatly advances knowledge of China's policy-making as well as the discipline's analytical and theoretical understanding of authoritarians' distributive strategies." -- Linda J. Cook , Professor of Political Science, Brown University