Minchao Jin

Minchao Jin
Affiliated Clinical Associate Professor of Social Work, NYU Shanghai
Email
minchao.jin@nyu.edu
Room
N804
Jin Minchao is an Affiliated Clinical Associate Professor of Social Work at NYU Shanghai. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Tsinghua University and both his Master’s and PhD in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis. At NYU Shanghai, he teaches graduate courses including Social Work Research Methods, Human Behavior in the Social Environment, and Social Welfare Policies and Programs.

Professor Jin’s research takes a developmental perspective, with primary interests in financial social work, child welfare, and social service design and evaluation. His work has appeared in leading journals such as Research on Social Work Practice, Social Science & Medicine, Journal of Social Policy, Social Indicators Research, Nutrition, and Journal of Family and Economic Issues.

 
In addition to research and teaching, he is actively engaged in strengthening social work and philanthropic initiatives through practice and training in program design and evaluation. He has conducted evaluations for projects such as the “One Egg” program at Shanghai United Foundation and the “Aflatoun Children’s Financial Literacy” program at Shanghai Better Education Center. He has also provided training in program design, analysis, and evaluation for leading organizations including the Narada Foundation and the China Foundation Forum.
 

Select Publications

  • Jin, M., Chen, J., & Huang, X. (2025). Game-based intervention to improve child financial literacy: A quasi-experimental study. Research on Social Work Practice.
  • Jin, M. (2025). Causal Chain: A Practical Guide to Program Analysis and Evaluation. Shanghai, China: East China University of Science and Technology Press. (in Chinese)
  • Chen, J. & Jin, M. (2023). The effectiveness of an egg-based intervention on improving the nutrition of poor school-age children in China: A quasi-experimental assessment. Nutrition, 109.
  • Jin, M. & Chen, Z. (2020). Comparing Financial Socialization and Formal Financial Education: Building Financial Capability. Social Indicators Research, 149, 641–656. doi: 10.1007/s11205-019-02248-z
  • Yang, Y., Chen, J. & Jin, M.* (2019). Who are the asset-poor in China: A comprehensive description and policy implication. Journal of Social Policy, 48(4), 756-787. doi: 10.1017/S0047279418000855

 

Education

  • PhD, Social Work
    Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A

  • Master of Social Work
    Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A

  • Bachelor of Science, Engineering
    Tsinghua University, Beijing, China

Research Interests

Professor Jin’s research interests center on financial social work, child welfare, and social service design and evaluation. For example, in collaboration with co-authors, he showed the effectiveness of an innovative game-based intervention for improving children’s financial literacy and offered corresponding recommendations for financial social work practice. His evaluation of the “One Egg” program provided evidence that daily egg consumption can improve the nutritional status of school-aged children in underdeveloped areas. Most recently, his sole-authored book presents the mechanisms and applications of the Causal Chain toolkit he developed for social service design, analysis, and evaluation.