Bin Grace Li

Last Updated: May 14, 2019

Bin Grace Li

Bin Grace Li is a senior economist at the the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund. Her research interests include macro-finance, international finance, and development economics. She has worked on various countries at the IMF, including the United States, China, Canada, and Australia as desk economist, covering monetary, fiscal, housing, external sectors for those economies. She has published in top peer-reviewed international journals on banking, development, commodity, and fiscal policy. Ms. Li holds MA and PhD. degrees from the University of Chicago.

Email: BLI2@imf.org

Personal WebPage: https://sites.google.com/site/graceliecon/

Fluent In: Chinese.

Education:

Ph.D., University of Chicago.

M.A., University of Chicago.


Professional Activities:

“Current Account Norms for Resource Rich and Capital Scarce Countries”, (joint with Araujo, Poplawski-Ribeiro, Zanna), "Journal of Development Economics", Volume 120, May 2016, Pages 144–156.

“Innovation, Deregulation, and the Life Cycle of a Financial Service Industry” (joint with Fumiko Hayashi and Zhu Wang), "Review of Economic Dynamics", Vol 26, October 2017, Pages 180-203.

“From Natural Resource Boom to Sustainable Economic Growth: Lessons for Mongolia” (joint with Panav Gupta and Jiangyan Yu), "International Economics", Volume 151, October 2017, Pages 7-25.

“VAR meets DSGE: Uncovering the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Low-Income Countries” (joint with Stephen O’Connell, Christopher Adam, Andrew Berg, and Peter Montiel), "Journal of African Economies", April 2019, Pages 1-24 (lead article).

"Two-Sided Market, R&D and Payments System Evolution", joint with James McAndrews and Zhu Wang (IMF working paper 19/57), "Journal of Monetary Economics", conditional acceptance with minor revision.

“Creditless Recoveries”, (with Abdul Abiad and Giovanni Dell’Ariccia), revise and resubmit at "Journal of International Economics" .

“Investing in Public Infrastructure: Roads or Schools?” joint with Manoj Atolia, Ricardo Marto, and Giovanni Melina, revise and resubmit at "Macroeconomic Dynamics"

"Macroeconomic Dimensions of Public-Private Partnerships", joint with Edward F. Buffie, Michele Andreolli, and Luis-Felipe Zanna, under journal review.

“The Macroeconomic and (Distributional) Effects of Public Investment in Developing Economies”, joint with Davide Furceri (IMF working paper 17/217), under journal review.


Awards and Honors:

Departmental Award for work on “Public Investment Growth” in April 2015.

Spot Award on “Exceptional Work on the Flagship Seminar on Growth” in October 2014.

Departmental award for “Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks for Resource-Rich Developing Countries” in April 2013.

Spot Award for “Exceptional Work on Current Account Norms in Natural Resource Rich Countries” in March 2013.

Federal Reserve Board Dissertation Fellowship, Washington, DC, 2008

NBER Ph.D. Research Travel Grants, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2004/2005

University of Chicago Fellowship, and Sprinkel Dissertation Grant, various years and awards.

Lee Prize for the best performance in Macroeconomics core, University of Chicago, 2002

Second Prize in China’s Olympic Mathematics Contest, China’s Mathematics Academy, 1996


Current Position:

Economist, Development Macroeconomics Division, Research Department.


Work in progress:

"The State and China's Productivity Deceleration: Firm-level Evidence", joint with Jorge Alvarez and Tuo Wang (Tsinghua University), forthcoming IMF Working Paper.

"Trade, Growth and Inequality: Evidence from China", joint with Prakash Loungani and Jonathan D. Ostry, forthcoming IMF Working Paper.

"The Debt of Local Government Financing Vehicles: New Findings Using Firm-level Analysis", joint with Rui Mano, forthcoming IMF Working paper.

"Household Consumption and Segmented Financial Markets in China" joint with Tao Wang (Johns Hopkins University), ongoing.

“Fiscal Decentralization, Local Government Competition, and Land Misallocation", joint with Xiaodong Zhu (University of Toronto), ongoing.

IMF Books and Working Papers:

Two-Sided Market, R&D and Payments System Evolution , Working Paper No. 19/57 , March 18, 2019

The Macroeconomic (and Distributional) Effects of Public Investment in Developing Economies , Working Paper No. 17/217 , October 20, 2017

Investing in Public Infrastructure : Roads or Schools? , Working Paper No. 17/105 , May 04, 2017

VAR meets DSGE : Uncovering the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Low-Income Countries , Working Paper No. 16/90 , April 11, 2016

Macroeconomic Dimensions of Public-Private Partnerships , Working Paper No. 16/78 , March 24, 2016

Innovation, Deregulation, and the Life Cycle of a Financial Service Industry , Working Paper No. 15/192 , August 18, 2015

From Natural Resource Boom to Sustainable Economic Growth : Lessons for Mongolia , Working Paper No. 15/90 , April 30, 2015

Current Account Norms in Natural Resource Rich and Capital Scarce Economies , Working Paper No. 13/80 , March 27, 2013

Creditless Recoveries , Working Paper No. 11/58 , March 01, 2011

IMF Country Reports

Mongolia - Article IV Consultation, Staff Report, 2015

United States: Spillover Report - 2011 (U.S. Fiscal Spillovers: Global Financing Conditions)

United States - Article IV, Staff Report 2011 (monetary policy and household financing)

United States - Article IV, Selected Issues, 2011 (Household Deleveraging and the Recovery)

Canada - Article IV, Staff Report 2010 (monetary policy and external sector)

Canada - Article IV, Selected Issues, 2010 (The Bumpy Road Ahead for North American Automakers)

United States - Article IV, Staff Report 2010 (monetary policy)

IMF Occasional Papers, Pamphlets, and Special Issues Papers

"Seven Questions on Estimating the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Low-Income Countries", joint with Christopher Adam, and Andrew Berg, on "IMF Research Bulletin", March 2016.

IMF Survey Articles

GLOBAL HOUSING WATCH: "Experts Confer on State of China’s Housing Market", joint with Hites Ahir and Prakash Loungani, IMF Research Department, January 29, 2016.

F&D articles

"Hidden Value" FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT, September 2016, Vol. 53, No. 3.

Selected Issue

Ecuador - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2015. "Ecuador's External Sector Assessment"

Niger - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2015 "Natural Resource Boom for Niger: From Public Investment to Sustainable Economic Growth"

Islamic Republic of Mauritania - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2015 "Public Investment, Natural Resource and Debt Sustainability"

United States - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2011 "Household Deleveraging and the Recovery"

Canada - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2010 "The Bumpy Road Ahead for North American Automakers"

Other Published Materials

Macro-Structural Policies and Income Inequality in Low-Income Developing Countries, IMF Staff Discussion Notes, January 2017.

Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks for Resource-Rich Developing Countries - Background Paper 1

Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks for Resource-Rich Developing Countries

Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks for Resource-Rich Developing Countries--Analytic Frameworks and Applications

Books

Book chapter “Identifying the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Sub Saharan Africa” (joint with C. Adam, A. Berg, P. Montiel, and S. O’Connell), for the Book "Monetary Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa".

Book Chapter in "Financial Crises: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses" Chapter 10 (book was edited by Stijn Claessens, M. Ayhan Kose, Luc Laeven and Fabian Valencia)

Publications in Journals (Refereed)

“Current Account Norms for Resource Rich and Capital Scarce Countries”, (joint with Araujo, Poplawski-Ribeiro, Zanna), "Journal of Development Economics", Volume 120, May 2016, Pages 144–156.

“Innovation, Deregulation, and the Life Cycle of a Financial Service Industry” (joint with Fumiko Hayashi and Zhu Wang), forthcoming 2017, "Review of Economic Dynamics"

“From Natural Resource Boom to Sustainable Economic Growth: Lessons for Mongolia” (joint with Panav Gupta and Jiangyan Yu), forthcoming 2017, "International Economics".

“Creditless Recoveries”, (with Abdul Abiad and Giovanni Dell’Ariccia), revise and resubmit at "Journal of International Economics" .

Publications in Books and Conference Volumes

"The ESRB at 1," SUERF Studies, SUERF - The European Money and Finance Forum, number 2012/4 edited by Stefan Gerlach & Ernest Gnan & Jens Ulbrich, June, 2012.

Other Published Materials

Op-Ed: "Chinese Real Estate Market: Outlook and Challenges", on "the Caixin Magazine", joint with Prakash Loungani, March 11, 2016 (in Chinese).

Op-Ed: "Experts Confer on State of China’s Housing Market" on "IMF Survey Magazine", joint with Hites Ahir and Prakash Loungani, IMF Research Department, January 29, 2016.

“Innovation, Deregulation, and the Life Cycle of a Financial Service Industry” (joint with Fumiko Hayashi and Zhu Wang), revise and resubmit at "Review of Economic Dynamics" (third round).

“Creditless Recoveries”, (with Abdul Abiad and Giovanni Dell’Ariccia), revise and resubmit at "Journal of International Economics" (second round).

"Seven Questions on Estimating the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Low-Income Countries" on "IMF Research Bulletin", joint with Christopher Adam and Andrew Berg, March 2016.

Bin Grace Li

Bin Grace Li is a senior economist at the the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund. Her research interests include macro-finance, international finance, and development economics. She has worked on various countries at the IMF, including the United States, China, Canada, and Australia as desk economist, covering monetary, fiscal, housing, external sectors for those economies. She has published in top peer-reviewed international journals on banking, development, commodity, and fiscal policy. Ms. Li holds MA and PhD. degrees from the University of Chicago.

Email: BLI2@imf.org

Personal WebPage: https://sites.google.com/site/graceliecon/

Fluent In: Chinese.

Education:

Ph.D., University of Chicago.

M.A., University of Chicago.


Professional Activities:

“Current Account Norms for Resource Rich and Capital Scarce Countries”, (joint with Araujo, Poplawski-Ribeiro, Zanna), "Journal of Development Economics", Volume 120, May 2016, Pages 144–156.

“Innovation, Deregulation, and the Life Cycle of a Financial Service Industry” (joint with Fumiko Hayashi and Zhu Wang), "Review of Economic Dynamics", Vol 26, October 2017, Pages 180-203.

“From Natural Resource Boom to Sustainable Economic Growth: Lessons for Mongolia” (joint with Panav Gupta and Jiangyan Yu), "International Economics", Volume 151, October 2017, Pages 7-25.

“VAR meets DSGE: Uncovering the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Low-Income Countries” (joint with Stephen O’Connell, Christopher Adam, Andrew Berg, and Peter Montiel), "Journal of African Economies", April 2019, Pages 1-24 (lead article).

"Two-Sided Market, R&D and Payments System Evolution", joint with James McAndrews and Zhu Wang (IMF working paper 19/57), "Journal of Monetary Economics", conditional acceptance with minor revision.

“Creditless Recoveries”, (with Abdul Abiad and Giovanni Dell’Ariccia), revise and resubmit at "Journal of International Economics" .

“Investing in Public Infrastructure: Roads or Schools?” joint with Manoj Atolia, Ricardo Marto, and Giovanni Melina, revise and resubmit at "Macroeconomic Dynamics"

"Macroeconomic Dimensions of Public-Private Partnerships", joint with Edward F. Buffie, Michele Andreolli, and Luis-Felipe Zanna, under journal review.

“The Macroeconomic and (Distributional) Effects of Public Investment in Developing Economies”, joint with Davide Furceri (IMF working paper 17/217), under journal review.


Awards and Honors:

Departmental Award for work on “Public Investment Growth” in April 2015.

Spot Award on “Exceptional Work on the Flagship Seminar on Growth” in October 2014.

Departmental award for “Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks for Resource-Rich Developing Countries” in April 2013.

Spot Award for “Exceptional Work on Current Account Norms in Natural Resource Rich Countries” in March 2013.

Federal Reserve Board Dissertation Fellowship, Washington, DC, 2008

NBER Ph.D. Research Travel Grants, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, MA, 2004/2005

University of Chicago Fellowship, and Sprinkel Dissertation Grant, various years and awards.

Lee Prize for the best performance in Macroeconomics core, University of Chicago, 2002

Second Prize in China’s Olympic Mathematics Contest, China’s Mathematics Academy, 1996


Current Position:

Economist, Development Macroeconomics Division, Research Department.


Work in progress:

"The State and China's Productivity Deceleration: Firm-level Evidence", joint with Jorge Alvarez and Tuo Wang (Tsinghua University), forthcoming IMF Working Paper.

"Trade, Growth and Inequality: Evidence from China", joint with Prakash Loungani and Jonathan D. Ostry, forthcoming IMF Working Paper.

"The Debt of Local Government Financing Vehicles: New Findings Using Firm-level Analysis", joint with Rui Mano, forthcoming IMF Working paper.

"Household Consumption and Segmented Financial Markets in China" joint with Tao Wang (Johns Hopkins University), ongoing.

“Fiscal Decentralization, Local Government Competition, and Land Misallocation", joint with Xiaodong Zhu (University of Toronto), ongoing.

IMF Books and Working Papers:

Two-Sided Market, R&D and Payments System Evolution , Working Paper No. 19/57 , March 18, 2019

The Macroeconomic (and Distributional) Effects of Public Investment in Developing Economies , Working Paper No. 17/217 , October 20, 2017

Investing in Public Infrastructure : Roads or Schools? , Working Paper No. 17/105 , May 04, 2017

VAR meets DSGE : Uncovering the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Low-Income Countries , Working Paper No. 16/90 , April 11, 2016

Macroeconomic Dimensions of Public-Private Partnerships , Working Paper No. 16/78 , March 24, 2016

Innovation, Deregulation, and the Life Cycle of a Financial Service Industry , Working Paper No. 15/192 , August 18, 2015

From Natural Resource Boom to Sustainable Economic Growth : Lessons for Mongolia , Working Paper No. 15/90 , April 30, 2015

Current Account Norms in Natural Resource Rich and Capital Scarce Economies , Working Paper No. 13/80 , March 27, 2013

Creditless Recoveries , Working Paper No. 11/58 , March 01, 2011

IMF Country Reports

Mongolia - Article IV Consultation, Staff Report, 2015

United States: Spillover Report - 2011 (U.S. Fiscal Spillovers: Global Financing Conditions)

United States - Article IV, Staff Report 2011 (monetary policy and household financing)

United States - Article IV, Selected Issues, 2011 (Household Deleveraging and the Recovery)

Canada - Article IV, Staff Report 2010 (monetary policy and external sector)

Canada - Article IV, Selected Issues, 2010 (The Bumpy Road Ahead for North American Automakers)

United States - Article IV, Staff Report 2010 (monetary policy)

IMF Occasional Papers, Pamphlets, and Special Issues Papers

"Seven Questions on Estimating the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Low-Income Countries", joint with Christopher Adam, and Andrew Berg, on "IMF Research Bulletin", March 2016.

IMF Survey Articles

GLOBAL HOUSING WATCH: "Experts Confer on State of China’s Housing Market", joint with Hites Ahir and Prakash Loungani, IMF Research Department, January 29, 2016.

F&D articles

"Hidden Value" FINANCE & DEVELOPMENT, September 2016, Vol. 53, No. 3.

Selected Issue

Ecuador - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2015. "Ecuador's External Sector Assessment"

Niger - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2015 "Natural Resource Boom for Niger: From Public Investment to Sustainable Economic Growth"

Islamic Republic of Mauritania - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2015 "Public Investment, Natural Resource and Debt Sustainability"

United States - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2011 "Household Deleveraging and the Recovery"

Canada - Article IV, Selected Issues Paper, 2010 "The Bumpy Road Ahead for North American Automakers"

Other Published Materials

Macro-Structural Policies and Income Inequality in Low-Income Developing Countries, IMF Staff Discussion Notes, January 2017.

Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks for Resource-Rich Developing Countries - Background Paper 1

Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks for Resource-Rich Developing Countries

Macroeconomic Policy Frameworks for Resource-Rich Developing Countries--Analytic Frameworks and Applications

Books

Book chapter “Identifying the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Sub Saharan Africa” (joint with C. Adam, A. Berg, P. Montiel, and S. O’Connell), for the Book "Monetary Policy in Sub-Saharan Africa".

Book Chapter in "Financial Crises: Causes, Consequences, and Policy Responses" Chapter 10 (book was edited by Stijn Claessens, M. Ayhan Kose, Luc Laeven and Fabian Valencia)

Publications in Journals (Refereed)

“Current Account Norms for Resource Rich and Capital Scarce Countries”, (joint with Araujo, Poplawski-Ribeiro, Zanna), "Journal of Development Economics", Volume 120, May 2016, Pages 144–156.

“Innovation, Deregulation, and the Life Cycle of a Financial Service Industry” (joint with Fumiko Hayashi and Zhu Wang), forthcoming 2017, "Review of Economic Dynamics"

“From Natural Resource Boom to Sustainable Economic Growth: Lessons for Mongolia” (joint with Panav Gupta and Jiangyan Yu), forthcoming 2017, "International Economics".

“Creditless Recoveries”, (with Abdul Abiad and Giovanni Dell’Ariccia), revise and resubmit at "Journal of International Economics" .

Publications in Books and Conference Volumes

"The ESRB at 1," SUERF Studies, SUERF - The European Money and Finance Forum, number 2012/4 edited by Stefan Gerlach & Ernest Gnan & Jens Ulbrich, June, 2012.

Other Published Materials

Op-Ed: "Chinese Real Estate Market: Outlook and Challenges", on "the Caixin Magazine", joint with Prakash Loungani, March 11, 2016 (in Chinese).

Op-Ed: "Experts Confer on State of China’s Housing Market" on "IMF Survey Magazine", joint with Hites Ahir and Prakash Loungani, IMF Research Department, January 29, 2016.

“Innovation, Deregulation, and the Life Cycle of a Financial Service Industry” (joint with Fumiko Hayashi and Zhu Wang), revise and resubmit at "Review of Economic Dynamics" (third round).

“Creditless Recoveries”, (with Abdul Abiad and Giovanni Dell’Ariccia), revise and resubmit at "Journal of International Economics" (second round).

"Seven Questions on Estimating the Monetary Transmission Mechanism in Low-Income Countries" on "IMF Research Bulletin", joint with Christopher Adam and Andrew Berg, March 2016.