YangYao

Yang Yao is a professor and dean of the Di-shui-hu Advanced Finance Institute (DAFI), Shanghai University of Finance and Economics. He is also a visiting professor at Peking University. He is the founding editor of China Economic Quarterly, a house journal of the China Center for Economic Research, Peking University and served as the dean of the National School of Development, Peking University from November 2012 to January 2024. He chairs the China Economic Annual Conference, the Foundation of Modern Economics, and the supervision committee of CF40. He is a member of China Economist 50 Forum. His research interests include new political economy, economic transition and development in China and political philosophy. He has published more than hundred research papers in international and domestic journals including China Social Sciences, American Economic Review, American Political Science Review, and Management Science. He publishes or edits more than a dozen books on political economy and philosophy, and economic development in China. He is also a prolific writer for magazines and newspapers.

Dr. Yao was awarded the 2008 and 2014 Sun Yefang Award in Economic Science, the 2008 and 2010 Pu Shan Award in International Economics and the 2008 Zhang Peigang Award in Development Economics, and was named the Best Teacher by the PKU Student Union in 2006 and the Best Advisor by the PKU Graduate Students Union in 2017. He is a fellow of the International Economic Association (2024).

Dr Yao obtained a BS in geography in 1986 and an MS in economics in 1989, both from Peking University, and his PhD in development economics from the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1996.

1. Hu, Jiayin, Songrui Liu, Yang Yao, and Zhu Zong. “Government Deleveraging and the Reverse Crowding-in Effect.” Management Science, forthcoming.

2.Yan, Xiaochang, and Yang Yao. “Culture and the Performance of Government officials.” Economic Development and Cultural Change, forthcoming.

3. Xi, Tianyang, Yang Yao, and Qian Zhang. “Purifying the Leviathan.” Journal of Politics, forthcoming.

4. Li, Jinghong, Zanhui Liu, and Yang Yao. “Career Paths in Hierarchies: Theory and Evidence from Chinese Officials.” Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 234(2025): 107027.

5. Wang, He, Yang Yao, and Yue Zhou. “Markets Price Politicians: Evidence from China’s Municipal Bond Markets.” Journal of Economics and Business, September-October 2022, 122: 106083.

6. Martinez-Bravo, Monica, Gerard Padró-i-Miquel, Nancy Qian and Yang Yao. “The Rise and Fall of Local Elections in China.” American Economic Review, 2022, 112(9): 2921–2958.

7. Wang, Zhaoguang, Yang Yao and Junni Zhang. “The Competence-Loyalty Tradeoff in China’s Political Selection.” Journal of Comparative Economics, June 2022, 50(2)：2369-393.

8. Yao, Yang. “The New Cold War: America’s New Approach to Sino-American Relations.” China International Strategy Review, 2021, 3(1): 20-33.

9. Foltz, Jeremy, Yunnan Guo, and Yang Yao. “Lineage Networks, Urban Migration and Income Inequality: Evidence from Rural China.” Journal of Comparative Economics, 2020, Volume 48, Issue 2: 465-482.

10. Li, Jingheng, Tianyang Xi, and Yang Yao. “Empowering Knowledge: Political Leaders, Education, andEconomic Liberalization.”European Journal of Political Economy, 2020, Volume 61: 101823.

11. Mao, Rui, Yang Yao, and Jingxian Zou. “Productivity Growth, Fixed Exchange Rates, and Export-Led Growth.”China Economic Review, 2019, Vol. 56: 101311.

12. Xi, Tianyang, Yang Yao, and Muyang Zhang. “Capability and Opportunism:Evidence from City Officials in China.”Journal of Comparative Economics, 2018, 46: 1046-1061.

13. Yao, Yang, and Wuyue You. “Women's Political Participation and Gender Gaps of Education in China: 1950-1990.” World Development,2018, 106: 220-237.

14. Yao, Yang. “An Anatomy of the Chinese Selectocracy.”China Economic Journal, 2018, 11(3): 228-242.

15. Su, Dan, and Yang Yao. “Manufacturing as the Key Engine of Economic Growth for Middle-income Economies.”Journal of Asia Pacific Economy, 2017, 22(1): 47-70.

16. Yao, Yang. “Will China be Able to Avoid the Japan Syndrome?”China and World Economy, 2016, 24(5): 98-121.

17. Mao, Rui, and Yang Yao. “Fixed Exchange Rate Regimes, Real Undervaluation, and Economic Growth.”Journal of International Commerce, Economics and Policy, 2015, 07(2).

18. Hong, Hao, Jianfeng Ding, and Yang Yao. “Individual Social Welfare Preferences: An Experimental Study.”Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 2015, 57: 89-97.

19. Yao, Yang, and Muyang Zhang. “Subnational Leaders and Economic Growth: Evidence from Chinese Cities.”Journal of Economic Growth, 2015, 20: 405-436.

20. Tan, Zhibo, Shang-Jin Wei, and Yang Yao. “Financial Structure, Corporate Savings and Current Account Imbalances.”Journal of International Money and Finance, 2015, 54: 142-167.

21. Xu, Yiqing, and Yang Yao. “Informal Institutions, Collective Action, and Public Investment in Rural China.”American Political Science Review, 2015, 109(2): 371-391.

22. Li, Xin, and Yang Yao. “Asia–Pacific integration within a broader Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.”European Journal of Marketing, 2014, 7(2):221-236.

23. Zhang, Jing, Li Gan, Lixin Xu and Yang Yao. “Health shocks, village elections, and household income: Evidence from rural China.”China Economic Review, 2014, Vol. 30: 155-168.

24. Li, Xin, and Yang Yao. “Asia-Pacific Integration and within a Broader Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement.”China Economic Journal, 2014, 7(2): 221-236.

25. Yao, Yang, and Ninghua Zhong. “Unions and Workers’Welfare in Chinese Firms.” Journal of Labor Economics, 2013, Vol. 31, No.3: 633-667.

26. Gan, Li, Lixin Colin Xu, and Yang Yao. 2012. “Risk Sharing and Local Elections: Evidence from Chinese Villages,”Economics of Transition,20(3): 521-547.

27. Yang, Xi, and Yang Yao. “Environmental Compliance and Firm Performance: Evidence from China.”Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2012, Vol. 74, No.3: 397-424.

28. Mao, Rui, and Yang Yao. “Structural Change in an Open Economy.”Pacific Economic Review, 2012, Vol. 17, No. 1: 29-56.

29. Knight, John, Yang Yao, and Linda Yueh.“Economic Growth in China: Productivity and Policy.” Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2011, Vol. 73, No.6: 719-721.

30. Chen, Binkai, and Yang Yao. “The Cursed Virtue: Government Infrastructural Investment andHousehold Consumption in Chinese Provinces.”Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, 2011, Vol. 73, No. 6:856-877.

31. Yao, Yang. “The Relationship between China’s Export-led Growth and Its Double Transition of Demographic Change and Industrialization.”Asian Economic Papers, Summer 2011, Vol. 10, No. 2: 52-76.

32. Yao, Yang. “A Chinese Way of Democratization?”China: An International Journal, September 2010, Vol. 8, No. 2: 330-345.

33. Yao, Yang, and Ke Zhang. “Has China Passed the Lewis Turning Point? A Structural Estimation Based on Provincial Data.”China Economic Journal, 2010, Vol. 3, No. 2: 155-162.

34. Huang, Lingwen, and Yang Yao. “Impacts of Privatization on Employment: Evidence from China.”Journal of Chinese Economic and Business Studies, 2010, Vol. 8, No. 2: 133-156.

35. Sun, Ang, and Yang Yao. “Health Shocks and Children’s School Attainments in Rural China.”Economics of Education Review, 2010, Vol. 29, No. 3: 375-382.

36. Yao, Yang and Miaojie Yu. “Labour, Demography, and the Export-oriented Growth Model in China.”Journal of Comparative Economic Studies, Vol. 5, December 2009: 61-78.

37. Yang, Rudai, Yang Yao, and Ye Zhang. “Technological Structure and Its Upgrading in China’s Exports.”China Economic Journal, 2009, Vol. 2, No. 1: 55-71.

38. Yao, Yang, and Linda Yueh. “Law, Finance, and Economic Growth in China.”World Development, 2009, Vol. 37, No. 4: 753-762.

39. Lu, Susan Feng, and Yang Yao. “The Effectiveness of Law, Financial Development, and Economic Growth in an Economy of Financial Repression：Evidence from China.”World Development, 2009, Vol. 37, No. 4: 763-777.

40. Shen, Yan, and Yang Yao. “Does Grassroots Democracy Reduce Income Inequality in China?”Journal of Public Economics, 2008, Vol. 92, Issues 10, 11: 2182-2198.

41. Yao, Yang, and Dongya Zheng. “Externalities and the Development of Heavy Industry.”Frontier of Economics in China, 2007, 2(4): 467-489.

42. Wang, Shuna and Yang Yao. “Grassroots Democracy and Local Governance: Evidence from Rural China.”World Development, 2007, Vol. 29, No. 10: 1635-1649.

43. Yao, Yang. “Village Elections, Accountability, and Income Distribution in Rural China.”China & World Economy, 2006, Vol. 14, No. 6: 20-38.

44. Bromley, Daniel, and Yang Yao. “Understanding China’s Economic Transformation: Are There Lessons for the Developing World?” World Economics, April–June 2006, 7(2): 73-96.

45. Gao, Mengtao, and Yang Yao. “Gender Gaps in Access to Healthcare in Rural China.”Economic Development and Cultural Change, 2006, Vol. 55(1): 87-107.

46. Garnaut, Ross, Ligang Song, and Yang Yao. “Impact and Significance of State-Owned Enterprise Restructuring in China.”China Journal, January 2006, Issue 55: 35-66.

47. Song, Ligang and Yang Yao. “Impacts of Privatization on Firm Performance in China.”Social Sciences in China,January 2006.

48. Yao, Yang. “Chinese Privatization: Causes and Outcomes.”China and World Economy, 2004, Vol. 13(1): 66-80.

49. Guo, Kai and Yang Yao. “Causes of Privatization in China: Testing Several Hypotheses.”Economics of Transition, 2005, Vol. 13(2): 211-238(lead paper).

50. Yao, Yang. “Land Tenure Choice in Chinese Villages: The Rational versus the Political Model.”Land Economics, 2004, 80(4): 477-488 (lead paper).

51. Yao, Yang. “Political Process and Efficient Institutional Change.”Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics, 2004, 160(3): 439-453.

52. Rong, Zhao and Yang Yao. “Public Service Provision and the Demand for Electric Appliances in Rural China.”China Economic Review, 2003, 14(2): 131-141.

53. Carter, Michael and Yang Yao. “Local versus Global Tests of Separability in Agricultural Household Models: The Factor Price Equalization Effect of Land Transfer Rights.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2002, 84(3): 702-715.

54. Li, Jing and Yang Yao. “Egalitarian Land Distribution and Labor Migration in Rural China.” Land Reform, Land Settlement and Cooperatives, FAO, 2002(1): 80-91.

55. Wang, Yueping and Yang Yao. “Market Reforms, Technological Capabilities and the Performance of Small Enterprises in China.” Small Business Economics, Vol. 18(2002), Nos. 1-3: 197-211.

56. Yao, Yang. “The Development of the Land Lease Market in Rural China.”Land Economics, Vol. 76(2000): 252-266.

57. Yao, Yang. “Rural Industryand Labor Market Integration in Eastern China.” Journal of Development Economics, Vol. 59(1999): 463-496.

58. Gao, Shanwen and Yang Yao. “Implementation of Socially Optimal Outcomes in the Process of Dissolving Public Enterprises in China.”China Economic Review, Vol. 10 (1999): 41-58.

59. Deininger, K.,B. Davis, Y. Yao,and P. Olinto. “Land Markets and Land Reform under Multiple Market Imperfections.”American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 1998, Vol. 80(5): 1160-1160.

60. Liu, Shouying, Michael Carter, and Yang Yao. “Dimensions and Diversity of Property Rights in Rural China: Dilemmas on the Road to Further Reform.” World Development. 1998, Vol 26(10): 1789-1806.