Jintao Xu

Jintao Xu is Professor of Natural Resource and Environmental Economics and Director of the China Center for Environmental and Energy Economics (C2E3) at the National School of Development, Peking University. He is trained as a natural resource economist and has more than thirty years of experience evaluating forest sector reform, conservation programs, and environmental policies. Xu obtained his M.A. in Economics (1996) and Ph.D. in Forestry and Forest Products (1999), both from Virginia Tech. He has worked as a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Forestry (1987–1994), the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (1999–2000), and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (2000–2005). He came to Peking University in 2006 and became Professor of Natural Resource and Environmental Economics, first at the College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and currently at the National School of Development. His academic work covers ecological restoration programs, environmental regulations, and climate policies in China. His papers appear in the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management (JEEM), American Journal of Agricultural Economics (AJAE), Land Economics, Environmental and Resource Economics, Environment and Development Economics (EDE), World Development, and other journals. He serves as co-editor for Environment and Development Economics, and has served as associate editor for AJAE and World Development, and on the editorial board for JEEM. In 2022, he spent a year at the Stanford Center for China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) as a visiting scholar and then as a research scholar from 2024-25. He is currently also appointed as a visiting professor at the Grantham Research Institute, London School of Economics.