PDFs of Nee's articles, chapters, and working papers are publicly available.
Nee’s research interests focus on middle range theories and their confirmation in economic sociology, new institutionalism, inequality and immigration. Articles and chapters are organized by their area of research.
Theory & Prediction of the Middle Range
- Theory of Emergence: Knowledge, Rewiring and Innovation. (Victor Nee, Sirui Wang and Michael Macy). 2023. Social Science Research.
- Endogenous Dynamics of Institutional Change. (Daniel DellaPosta, Victor Nee and Sonja Opper). 2017. Rationality and Society 29: 5-28.
- A Theory of Assimilation. (Victor Nee and Richard Alba). 2013. In Handbook of Rational Choice Social Research. Stanford: Stanford University Press: 355-380.
- A Theory of Innovation: Institutions, Markets and the Firm. (Victor Nee, Jeong-han Kang and Sonja Opper). 2010. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 166: 397-425.
- Sleeping with the Enemy: A Dynamic Model of Declining Political Commitment in State Socialism. (Victor Nee and Peng Lian). 1994. Theory and Society 23: 253- 296.
- Middle-Range Theories of Institutional Change. (Victor Nee). 2018. Sociological Forum.
Institutions
- Embeddedness and Beyond: Institutions, Exchange and Social Structure. (Victor Nee and Paul Ingram). 1998. Pp. 19-45 in The New Institutionalism in Sociology, edited by M. Brinton and V. Nee. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
- Mechanisms of Institutional Change. (Victor Nee). 2020. Studies in Critical Social Sciences 156: 166-184.
- Market Transition and Theory of Institutional Change. (Victor Nee). 2020. Intellectuals, Inequalities and Transitions: Prospects for a Critical Sociology, edited by Tamas Demeter. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
- Norms and Networks in Economic and Organizational Performance. (Victor Nee). 1998. American Economic Review 87.4: 85-9.
- Sources of the New Institutionalism. (Victor Nee). Pp. 1-16 in The New Institutionalism in Sociology, Mary Brinton and Victor Nee, Eds. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
- Market Transition and Societal Transformation in Reforming State Socialism. (Victor Nee and Rebecca Matthews). 1996. Annual Review of Sociology 22: 401-36.
- Institutional Change and Economic Growth in China: The View from the Villages. (Victor Nee and Su Sijin). 1990. The Journal of Asian Studies 49: 3-25.
- Economic Sociology and New Institutional Economics. (Victor Nee and Richard Swedberg). 2005. Pp. 789-818 in The Handbook of New Institutional Economics Claude Menard and Mary Shirley, eds. Amsterdam: Kluwer Publication.
Economic Sociology
Knowledge Economy
- Theory of Emergence: Knowledge, Rewiring and Innovation. (Victor Nee, Sirui Wang and Michael Macy). 2023. Social Science Research.
- Emergence of Diverse and Specialized Knowledge in a Metropolitan Cluster. (Daniel DellaPosta and Victor Nee). 2020. Social Science Research 86: 102377.
- Immigration, Opportunity and Assimilation in a Technology Economy. (Victor Nee and Lucas Drouhot). 2020. Theory and Society 49: 965-990.
Market Transition and the Rise of Capitalism in China
- A Theory of Market Transition: From Redistribution to Markets in State Socialism. 1989. American Sociological Review 54: 663-681.
- The Emergence of a Market Society: Changing Mechanisms of Stratification in China. 1996. American Journal of Sociology 100: 908-49.
- Organizational Dynamics of Market Transition: Hybrid Property Forms and Mixed Economy in China. 1992. Administrative Science Quarterly 37: 1-27.
- Path Dependent Societal Transformation: Stratification in Mixed Economies. (with Yang Cao). 1999. Theory and Society 28: 799-834.
- Institutions, Social Ties, and Credible Commitment: Local Corporatism in China. (Victor Nee and Sijin Su). 1996. Pp. 111-134 in Reforming Asian Economies: The Growth of Market Institutions, edited by John McMillan and Barry Naughton. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
- Social Inequalities in Reforming State Socialism: Between Redistribution and Markets in China. 1991. American Sociological Review 56: 267-282.
- Controversies and Evidence in the Market Transition Debate. (Victor Nee and Yang Cao). 2000. American Journal of Sociology 105,4: 1175-89.
- Peasant Entrepreneurs in China’s “Second Economy”: An Institutional Analysis. (Victor Nee and Frank W. Young). 1991. Economic Development and Cultural Change 39: 293-310.
- Political Capital in a Market Economy. (Victor Nee and Sonja Opper). 2010. Social Forces 88,5: 2105-3132.
- Endogenous Dynamics of Institutional Change. (Daniel DellaPosta, Victor Nee and Sonja Opper). 2017. Rationality and Society 29: 5-28.
- The Entrepreneur’s Network and Firm Performance. (Victor Nee, Lisha Liu and Daniel DellaPosta). 2017. Sociological Science 4: 552-579.
- Organizational Dynamics of Institutional Change: Politicized Capitalism in China. (Victor Nee). 2005. Pp. 53-74 In The Economic Sociology of Capitalism, edited by Victor Nee and Richard Swedberg. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- Market Transition and Theory of Institutional Change. (Victor Nee). 2020. Intellectuals, Inequalities and Transitions: Prospects for a Critical Sociology, edited by Tamas Demeter. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
- Cooperation with Strangers: Spillover of Community Norms. (Mario Molina, Victor Nee and Hakan Holm.) 2022. Organization Science.
- Learning to Trust: from Relational Exchange to Generalized Trust. (Victor Nee, Hakan Holm and Sonja Opper). 2018. Organization Science 29(5): 969-986.
- From Norms and Networks to Economic Institutions. (Victor Nee and Sonja Opper). 2015. In Re-imagining Economic Sociology, Patrik Aspers and Nigel Dodd, Eds. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Entrepreneurs under Uncertainty: An Economic Experiment. (Hakan Holm, Sonja Opper and Victor Nee). 2013. Management Science 59: 1671-1687.
- Strategic Decisions: Behavioral Differences between CEOs and Others. (Hakan Holm, Victor Nee and Sonja Opper). 2019. Experimental Economics.
- Bringing Market Transition Theory to the Firm. (Victor Nee and Sonja Opper). 2009. In Research in the Sociology of Work 19: 3-34.
- On Politicized Capitalism. (Victor Nee and Sonja Opper). 2007. In On Capitalism, edited by Victor Nee and Richard Swedberg. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
- Developmental State and Corporate Governance in China. (Victor Nee, Sonja Opper and Sonia Wong). 2007. Management and Organization Review 3: 19-51.
- Remaking Inequality: Institutional Change and Income Stratification in Urban China. (Yang Cao and Victor Nee). 2007. Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy 10: 463-485.
- The Role of the State in Making a Market Economy. (Victor Nee). 2000. Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 156: 64-88.
- Risk Aversion and Guanxi Activities: A Behavioral Analysis of CEOs in China. (Sonja Opper, Victor Nee and Hakan Holm). 2017. Academy of Management Journal 60: 1504-1530.
- Homophily in the Career Mobility of China’s Political Elite. (Sonja Opper, Victor Nee and Stephan Brehm). 2015. Social Science Research 54: 332-352.
- Network Effects, Cooperation and Entrepreneurial Innovation in China. (Sonja Opper and Victor Nee). 2015. Asian Business & Management 14(4): 293-302.
- The Rational Peasant in China: Flexible Adaptation, Risk Diversification and Opportunity. (Victor Nee and Lisa Keister). 2001. Rationality and Society 13:33-39.
- Peasant Household Individualism. (Victor Nee). 1984. pp. 164-192 in Chinese Rural Development: the Great Transformation, William Parish (ed.). New York: M.E. Sharpe.
- Gender Inequality and Nonfarm Employment in Rural China. (Rebecca Matthews and Victor Nee). 2000. Social Science Research 29: 606-632.
Immigration and Assimilation
- Immigrant Self-Employment: The Family as Social Capital and the Value of Human Capital. (Jimy Sanders and Victor Nee). 1996. American Sociological Review 60: 231-250.
- Job Transitions in an Immigrant Metropolis: Ethnic Boundaries and Mixed Economy. (Victor Nee, Jimy Sanders and Scott Sernau). 1994. American Sociological Review 59: 849-72.
- Immigration, Opportunity and Assimilation in a Technology Economy. (Victor Nee and Lucas Drouhot). 2020. Theory and Society 49: 965-990.
- Assimilation and the Second Generation in Europe and America: Blending and Segregating Social Dynamics Between Immigrants and Natives. (Lucas G. Drouhot and Victor Nee). 2019. Annual Review of Sociology 45: 2.1-2.23.
- Trust in Ethnic Ties: Social Capital and Immigrants. (Victor Nee and Jimy Sanders). 2001. Pp. 374-392 in Trust and Society, edited by Karen Cook. Russell Sage Foundation.
- Understanding the Diversity of Immigrant Incorporation. (Victor Nee and Jimy Sanders). 2001. Ethnic and Racial Studies 24: 386-411.
- Assimilation and Segmented Assimilation. (Richard Alba and Victor Nee). 2019. Ch 46 in The SAGE Handbook of International Migration; Christine Inglis, Binod Khadria and Wei Li Eds. London: Sage Publication.
“ The challenge is to specify and explicate the social mechanisms determining the relationship between the informal social organization of close-knit groups and the formal rules of institutional structures ”
⸺ Victor Nee