Dr. Hongbin Li

Hongbin Li, PhD

  • Faculty Co-director of the Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions
  • The James Liang Endowed Chair
  • Professor, by courtesy, of Economics
  • Senior Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies
  • Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
  • Faculty Affiliate at the King Center of Global Development
  • Faculty Affiliate at Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence

John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Building, 366 Galvez Street
Stanford, CA 94305-6015

Biography

Hongbin Li is the Co-director of Stanford Center on China's Economy and Institutions, and a Senior Fellow of Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR) and the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI).

Hongbin obtained Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University in 2001 and joined the economics department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he became full professor in 2007. He was also one of the two founding directors of the Institute of Economics and Finance at the CUHK. He taught at Tsinghua University in Beijing 2007-2016 and was C.V. Starr Chair Professor of Economics in the School of Economics and Management. He also founded and served as the Executive Associate Director of the China Social and Economic Data Center at Tsinghua University. He founded the Chinese College Student Survey (CCSS) in 2009 and the China Employer-Employee Survey (CEES) in 2014.

Hongbin’s research has been focused on the transition and development of the Chinese economy, and the evidence-based research results have been both widely covered by media outlets and well read by policy makers around the world. He is currently the co-editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics.

publications

Working Papers
February 2024

English Language Requirement and Educational Inequality: Evidence from 16 Million College Applicants in China

Author(s)
cover link English Language Requirement and Educational Inequality: Evidence from 16 Million College Applicants in China
Working Papers
March 2022

Can Elite College Education Change One’s Fate in China?

Author(s)
cover link Can Elite College Education Change One’s Fate in China?
Working Papers
May 2021

Entrepreneurial Reluctance: Talent and Firm Creation in China

Author(s)
cover link Entrepreneurial Reluctance: Talent and Firm Creation in China

In The News

Factory with lines of robots performing tasks.
News

The Forces Driving Industrial Automation in China

"By 2016, China had the world’s largest stock of operational robots. This was a massive increase from 2010, when it trailed Japan, the United States, Germany, and South Korea. To learn why and how China is automating so rapidly, [Erin Slawson] spoke with Dr. Hongbin Li, Co-Director of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI)."
cover link The Forces Driving Industrial Automation in China