Adam Frost is a PhD candidate at Harvard University in the department of History and East Asian Languages, who researches the history of entrepreneurship in modern China. His dissertation, “Speculators and Profiteers: Capitalism and Entrepreneurship in Socialist China (1957-1980),” uses unconventional historical methods and sources to explore the entrepreneurial origins of China’s economic transformation. Adam received his BA and MA from Harvard University and was a visiting scholar at Fudan University. His research has been supported by the Institution of International Education (Fulbright), the Social Science Research Council, the US Department of Education (FLAS Grant), Harvard Business School, Harvard’s Fairbank and Asia Centers, the Institute of Humane Studies, and the Mercatus Institute at George Mason. In addition to conducting traditional archival research, Adam also draws heavily upon ethnography and oral history; recently he completed an ethnographic documentary on the everyday lives of beggars entitled, The End of Bitterness.
