Chair of Economics and Politics of China









Prof. Lei Li, Ph.D.



Lei Li is Professor of Economics and Politics of China at the University of Göttingen. Her research focuses on international trade, the Chinese economy, labor, development, and environmental economics, with particular interest in trade wars, economic sanctions, and environmental policy impacts.















Research Expertise



  • Primary Fields: International Trade and Chinese Economy

  • Secondary Fields: Labor Economics, Development Economics, and Environmental Economics

  • Special Focus: Trade wars, economic sanctions, pollution, deforestation, innovation, education, migration, income inequality, and industry clusters










Current Position



  • Professor of Economics and Politics of China, University of Göttingen, Germany, 2024-present

  • Assistant Professor, University of Mannheim, Germany, 2019-2024









Research Affiliation






  • Since 2024

    Board, Center for Modern East Asian Studies (CeMEAS, University of Göttingen)



  • Since 2025

    Research Affiliate, Zentrum für Europäische Wirtschaftsforschung (ZEW)



  • Since 2023

    Research Affiliate, CESifo Research Network



  • Since 2019

    Research Affiliate, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)



  • 2019-2024

    Member, Collaborative Research Center (CRC TR 224), German Science Foundation



  • 2019-2024

    Member, Mannheim Center for Competition and Innovation (MACCI)













Previous Employment



  • Postdoctoral Researcher, University of Zurich, Switzerland, 2016-2019









Education



  • Ph.D. in Economics, Tsinghua University, China, 2011-2016

  • B.S. in Finance & Mathematics, Beihang University, China, 2007-2011









Awards and Scholarships



  • Annual Best Paper Award, Jockey Club Enterprise Sustainability Global Research Institute 2025

  • Young Economist Award, FIW International Economics Conference 2021

  • Certificate of Outstanding Contribution in Reviewing, Journal of Development Economics 2018

  • Excellent Ph.D. Graduate Award (summa cum laude equivalent), Tsinghua University 2016

  • Excellent Ph.D. Graduate Award, Beijing Municipal Education Commission 2016

  • Outstanding Dissertation Prize for Ph.D. Graduates, Tsinghua University 2016

  • Tsinghua First Class Scholarship 2015

  • Top Grade National Scholarship for Graduate Students 2015

  • Young Scholar Award, SEM, Tsinghua University 2014

  • Tsinghua First Prize Scholarship 2014

  • Top Grade National Scholarship for Graduate Students 2013

  • Excellent Economic Paper Award, Minoru Kobayashi China Economic Research Foundation 2013










Funding and Grants



  • Lower Saxony PRO funds for academic events in humanities and social sciences, 2026

  • Conference Grant, Universitätsbund Göttingen e.V., 2026

  • Startup Grant, Göttingen, 2019

  • DAAD: STIBET Doktoranden, 2020

  • Startup Grant, Mannheim, 2019









CONFERENCE AND WORKSHOP ORGANIZATION







  • 2025 & 2026

    CEPR-Kiel-Göttingen China Conference in 2025 & 2026, Berlin.




  • 2025 & 2026

    Göttingen China Workshop on Globalization, Macroeconomics, and Development in 2025 & 2026, Göttingen.




  • 2026

    International Economics in Times of Geoeconomics Changes in 2026, Bad Homburg.




  • 2023

    CRC Workshop on Trade, Firms, and Economic Development in 2023, Bad Homburg.




  • 2021

    CRC Workshop on Global Value Chain and Trade Policy in 2021, Mannheim.














CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS







  • 2026

    CEPR Climate Change and the Environment Symposium, Switzerland; CEPR-Kiel-Göttingen China Conference, Berlin; CESifo Area Conference on Energy and Climate Economics, Munich; Göttingen China Workshop on Globalization, Göttingen; Lingnan-Göttingen Workshop, HK; 27th Göttinger International Trade Workshop, Göttingen; World Trade Dialogue, Hamburg; International Economics in Times of Geoeconomics Changes, Bad Homburg; ARENA, Castellon, Spain.




  • 2025

    Danish International Economics Workshop, Aarhus; IZA Workshop on Climate and Environmental Economics Applied and Behavioral Perspectives, Bonn; Kiel-Göttingen-CEPR China Conference, Berlin; 6th Heidelberg-Tübingen-Hohenheim (HeiTüHo) Workshop on International Financial Markets; Göttingen China Workshop on Globalization, Göttingen; Chinese Rural Economy, Hangzhou; ZEW-virtual RA Day, online.




  • 2024

    ERWIT, Munich; Kiel-Göttingen-CEPR Conference on China in the Global Economy, Berlin; 3rd Conference on Trade, Value Chains and Financial Linkages in the Global Economy, Rome; 3rd Global Economic Networks (GEN) Workshop, Tübingen; 3rd Kiel-CEPR Conference on Geoeconomics, Berlin, discussant; Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation IO Day, Mannheim; Annual Conference of Chinese European Society for Environment, Ecology, and Sustainability, online; ZEW Public Finance Conference, Mannheim.




  • 2023

    Workshop on Trade, Firms, and Economic Development, Bad Homburg; CRC TR 224 Retreat, Offbach; Göttinger International Trade Workshop, Göttingen; Annual Conference of the Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation, Mannheim; Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation IO Day, Mannheim; ZEW Public Finance Conference.




  • 2022

    Danish International Economics Workshop, Aarhus; FIW Workshop on Firms and Workers in the Global Economy, Linz; Nordic International Trade Seminars, NOITS, Stavanger; Workshop in International Economics, Zurich; Tilburg Growth, Trade and International Finance Conference, Tilburg; Workshop on Shaping Globalization, Mainz; Bayreuth Trade & IO Workshop 2022, Bayreuth; CRC TR 224 Conference, Mainz; Workshop on International Economic Networks, WIEN, Vienna; Tsinghua Alumni Workshop, online; Mannheim Centre for Competition and Innovation IO Day, MACCI, Mannheim; Göttinger International Trade Workshop, Göttingen; Conference on US-China Trade Disputes and Globalization, online; Nanjing University-Chinese Economy Workshop, online; CRC TR 224 Workshop for Young Researchers, Bonn; CRC TR 224 Workshop for Young Researchers, Mannheim.




  • 2021

    Workshop in International Economics, St. Gallen; Asian and Australasian Society of Labour Economics 2021 Conference, AASLE, online; Asia Impact Evaluation Conference, online; CRC TR 224 Conference, Mainz; Conference on US-China Trade Disputes and Globalization, online; CRC TR 224 Workshop for Young Researchers, online; Workshop on Labor Market, Technology and Globalization, Mannheim; Trade Policy and GVC Workshop, Mannheim; FIW Conference-International Economics, online; 13th International Symposium on Human Capital and Labor Markets, online; MaCCI IO Day, online; JGU Mainz Workshop on Shaping Globalization, online; Tsinghua Alumni Workshop, online.




  • 2020

    Chinese Economy Research Workshop, Shanghai; 22th Göttinger International Trade Workshop, Göttingen; CRC TR 224 Conference, online; EALE SOLE AASLE World Conference, online; GSCE Chinese Economy Workshop, online; Mannheim Workshop on Globalization, Technology and Labor Markets, online.




  • 2019

    CRC TR 224 Conference, Montabaur, discussant; Workshop on Trade Policy and Firm Performance, Bad Homburg, discussant; Workshop on Globalisation and Structural Change, Maastricht; Workshop on Urban Economics, Zurich, poster.




  • 2018

    European Association of Labour Economists, EALE, Lyon; European Research Workshop in International Trade, ERWIT, St. Gallen, poster; European Winter Meetings of the Econometric Society, EWMES, Naples; Sinergia Workshop, St. Gallen; XIVth Danish International Economics Workshop, Aarhus.




  • 2017

    European Association of Labour Economists, EALE, St. Gallen; Annual Congress of the European Economic Association and European Meeting of the Econometric Society, EEA-EMES, Lisbon; Society of Labor Economists, SOLE, Raleigh; Swiss Society of Economics and Statistics, SSES, Lausanne.




  • 2016

    ILO/IZA/Renmin/UCW Workshop on the Chinese Labor Market in Transition, Beijing; SNF Sinergia Workshop, Stoos.




  • 2015

    Workshop on the Industrial Development and the Labor Market of China, Beijing; 12th Chinese Finance Annual Meeting, Beijing; CEC Workshop, Beijing.














Referee Service


American Economic Journal: Economic Policy; Economic Journal; European Economic Review; Economics Letters; Economic Policy; International Journal of Industrial Organization; Labour Economics; Journal of Development Economics; Journal of the European Economic Association; Journal of International Economics; Journal of Labor Economics; Journal of Public Economics; Journal of Human Resources; Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization; Journal of Comparative Economics; Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics; Review of Economics and Statistics; Review of World Economics.











Portrait of Lei Li


Quicklinks






Contact


Chair of Economics and Politics of China

Prof. Lei Li, Ph.D.

Faculty of Business and Economics

Heinrich-Düker-Weg 14

Göttingen, 37073, Germany

Office: KWZ 0.705

Tel. +49 621 181-1911

lei.li@uni-goettingen.de


Office hours: by appointment