Ming Li is an assistant professor in the department of economics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). Before joining CUHK, she held a faculty position at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and a visiting position at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. She received her PhD in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and her bachelor’s degree from Peking University.
Li’s research lies at the intersection of empirical microeconomics, political economy, urban economics, and the Chinese economy. Her scholarship uses China’s rapid urbanization and institutional transformation to address fundamental questions about how migration barriers, transportation networks, local-government incentives, industrial policy, and labor-market frictions shape the location of economic activity. A central contribution of her work is to connect institutions specific to China with broader economic mechanisms involving market integration, agglomeration, entrepreneurship, firm dynamics, and worker mobility.
Her research therefore advances understanding of China’s economic development while also contributing to wider debates in urban, labor, development, and political economics.
