Shimizu’s research concerns the political economy of Japan and greater China, with a current focus on central-local fiscal relations and financial politics. In Japan, she has been a research scholar at Gakushuin University and RIETI (Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry). During 2009-2010, she was an advanced research fellow at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs’ Program on U.S.-Japan Relations at Harvard University. She earned her BA in Economics and International Relations and PhD in Political Science from Stanford University. Top