Hongbin Li

Hongbin Li is a Senior Fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), Professor, by courtesy, of Economics, and Faculty Director of the China Labor, Income, and Population (CLIP) Program at Stanford University. He was also a founding Faculty Co-director of the Stanford Center on China’s Economy and Institutions (SCCEI) from 2021 to 2026. 

Hongbin received his Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University in 2001 and subsequently joined the Department of Economics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), where he became a full professor in 2006. From 2007 to 2016, he taught at Tsinghua University in Beijing, where he was the C.V. Starr Chair Professor of Economics in the School of Economics and Management. He also founded and directed the Institute of Economics and Finance at CUHK and 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 focuses on the Chinese economy, and his evidence-based research has been widely cited and covered in the media. He is currently Co-editor of the Journal of Comparative Economics. His book, The Highest Exam: How the Gaokao Shapes China, published by Harvard University Press, was named one of The Economist’s Best Books of 2025.

Focal Areas: Education, Global Development and Trade, Health, Inequality, Work