Her areas of research include political, economic, and business history, as well as the history of capitalism. A key question driving her research is how the blending of public and private power has created a distinctive form of capitalism - American capitalism. Chapin has won numerous awards to support her work, including the John E. Rovensky Fellowship in American Business and Economic History and a Miller Center for Public Affairs Fellowship. Her work has been published in Studies in American Political Development, the Journal of Policy History, Enterprise and Society, and the Business History Review.