Nan Li

Last Updated: January 05, 2024

Ms. Nan Li currently holds the position of the Deputy Division Chief at the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to this, she was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Ohio State University. Ms. Li specializes in international macroeconomics, trade, firm innovations and economic growth. Her research has been published in top academic journals, including the Review of Economic Studies, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of International Economics and Journal of Development Economics. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University and holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Peking University, China.

Email: NLI@imf.org

Personal WebPage: https://sites.google.com/view/nanliweb/

Fluent In: Chinese.

Education:

Ph.D. Economics, Stanford University, USA, 2007

B.S. Economics and Finance, Peking University, China, 2001


Previous Experience:

2020 – 2022, Senior Economist, Southern Africa division (S2), African Department, IMF.

2016 – 2022, Associate Editor, IMF Economic Review.

2014 – 2020, Senior Economist/Economist, Development Macro/Open-economy Macro Division, Research Department, IMF.

2011 – 2014, Economist, Institute for Capacity Development, IMF.

2007 – 2012, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Ohio State University.


Editorial Activities:

Former Associate Editor, IMF Economic Review


Awards and Honors:

IMF Innovation and Creative Impact Fund-wise reward

IMF Research Departmental Reward for Outstanding Contribution to WEMD


Current Position:

Deputy Division Chief, Development Macroeconomics Division, Research Department, IMF


Country work or Mission Assignment:

Guatemala, Botswana, Namibia


Seminar Presentation:

American Economic Association Annual Meeting, Society of Economic Dynamics, Econometric Society Meetings, Midwest Macro Meeting, NBER Summer Institute, NBER Economic Growth Group, Columbia University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University-SAIS, London School of Business, London School of Economics, University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University, Stanford University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Tokyo University, University of California at Irvine, University of California at Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, University of London-Royal Holloway, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Federal Reserve Board, Fed-St Louis, Fed-Dallas, Fed-Minneapolis, Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank of France, ECB, IMF research department, OECD, Bank of England, Bank of France


Teaching:

Lecturer, IMF External/Internal Training Courses: Macroeconomic Forecasting, Macroeconomic Diagnostics, Financial Programming and Policy (including On-line learning), Financial Inclusion, Early Warning Exercise, External Sector Assessment

Instructor: International Finance (undergraduate), International Trade and Open Macroeconomics (Ph.D), Department of Economics, Ohio State University


Work in progress:

“Monetary Policy Transmission to the Household Sector in Uganda” with Andrea Presbitero and Cedric Okou.

"Knowledge Flows through FDI" with Jaebin Ahn, Chan Kim and Andrea Manera.

“Reform Contagion: Understanding the Dynamics of Worldwide Financial Liberalization” with Chris Papageorgiou, Tong Xu and Tao Zha.

"Services Trade, FDI and Restrictions" with Alessandro Barattieri and Qiuyan Yin.

“Exchange Rates and Trade in Services: Evidence for Dominant Currency” with Gita Gopinath and Sergii Meleshchuk.

“Exchange Rate Passthrough: The Role of Exporters’ Financing Decisions” with Camila Cases, Sergii Meleshchuk and Yannick Timmer.


Field of Expertise:

Open Economy Macroeconomics

International Trade

International Finance

Development Economics

Poverty and Inequality

Economic Modeling

IMF Books and Working Papers:

Dominant Currencies and External Adjustment , Staff Discussion Note No. 20/05 , July 20, 2020

The External Balance Assessment Methodology: 2018 Update , Working Paper No. 19/65 , March 19, 2019

Effective Trade Costs and the Current Account: An Empirical Analysis , Working Paper No. 19/8 , January 15, 2019

Real Sectoral Spillovers: A Dynamic Factor Analysis of the Great Recession , Working Paper No. 18/100 , May 09, 2018

China’s Rising IQ (Innovation Quotient) and Growth : Firm-level Evidence , Working Paper No. 16/249 , December 22, 2016

Emerging Market Business Cycles : The Role of Labor Market Frictions , Working Paper No. 12/237 , October 02, 2012

IMF Country Reports

“Argentina Ex-post Evaluation of Exceptional Access under the 2018 SBA” with Odd Per Brekk and others, Board Paper, December 2021, featured in The Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg.

IMF Occasional Papers, Pamphlets, and Special Issues Papers

“Inequality and Mobility During the COVID-19 Crisis: The South African Experience” with Chris Papageorgiou and Antonio Spilimbergo, South Africa 2022 AIV Annex. Presentation at the Surveillance Meeting.

“Dominant Currencies and External Adjustment” with Gustavo Alders and others, Staff Discussion Note No. 20/05, 2020.

iMFdirect Blog Posts

“COVID’s Long Shadow: Social Repercussions of Pandemics”, with Phillip Barrett and Sophia Chen, Research Perspectives, 2020; IMF blog, 2021.

Selected Issue

Guatemala—Fiscal Sustainability Assessment, June 2013

Other Published Materials

"Manufacturing Jobs: Implications For Productivity and Inequality" with Wenjie Chen, Bertrand Gruss, Weicheng Lian, Natalija Novta and Yu Shi. IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2018.

“Severe Epidemics in Modern History: Growth, Debt and Civil Unrest” with Mattia Coppo, RES COVID-19 Special Note, 2020.

Publications in Journals (Refereed)

“China’s Rising IQ (Innovation Quotient) and Growth: Firm-level Evidence” with Jing Fang and Hui He, 2020, Journal of Development Economics.

“Knowledge Diffusion, Trade and Innovation across Countries and Sectors” with Jie Cai and Ana Maria Santacreu. 2020, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics.

"Growth Through Intersectoral Knowledge Linkages" with Jie Cai, 2019, Review of Economic Studies.

"Real Sectoral Spillovers: A Dynamic Factor Analysis of the Great Recession" with Vance Martin. 2018, Journal of Monetary Economics.

"International Transmission With Heterogeneous Sectors" with Keyu Jin, 2018, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics.

"Value-Added Trade and Business Cycle Synchronization" with Romain Duval, Richa Saraf and Dulani Seneviratne, 2015, Journal of International Economics.

“Frequency Bias in Consumers’ Perceptions of Inflation”, with Sotiris Georganas and Paul Healy, 2014, European Economic Review.

“Labor Market Search in Emerging Economies”, with Emine Boz and Bora Durdu, 2014, Journal of Money, Banking and Credit

“Transaction Costs, Incomplete Markets, and Exchange Rate Fluctuations”, 2012, Macroeconomic Dynamics

“Cyclical Wage Movements in Emerging Markets Compared to Developed Economies: The Role of Interest Rates”, 2011, Review of Economic Dynamics

Other Published Materials

“Effective Trade Costs and the Current Account,” with Emine Boz and Hongrui Zhang, VoxEU, 2019.

Ms. Nan Li currently holds the position of the Deputy Division Chief at the Research Department of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Prior to this, she was an Assistant Professor of Economics at the Ohio State University. Ms. Li specializes in international macroeconomics, trade, firm innovations and economic growth. Her research has been published in top academic journals, including the Review of Economic Studies, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Monetary Economics, Journal of International Economics and Journal of Development Economics. She earned her Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University and holds a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Peking University, China.

Email: NLI@imf.org

Personal WebPage: https://sites.google.com/view/nanliweb/

Fluent In: Chinese.

Education:

Ph.D. Economics, Stanford University, USA, 2007

B.S. Economics and Finance, Peking University, China, 2001


Previous Experience:

2020 – 2022, Senior Economist, Southern Africa division (S2), African Department, IMF.

2016 – 2022, Associate Editor, IMF Economic Review.

2014 – 2020, Senior Economist/Economist, Development Macro/Open-economy Macro Division, Research Department, IMF.

2011 – 2014, Economist, Institute for Capacity Development, IMF.

2007 – 2012, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Ohio State University.


Editorial Activities:

Former Associate Editor, IMF Economic Review


Awards and Honors:

IMF Innovation and Creative Impact Fund-wise reward

IMF Research Departmental Reward for Outstanding Contribution to WEMD


Current Position:

Deputy Division Chief, Development Macroeconomics Division, Research Department, IMF


Country work or Mission Assignment:

Guatemala, Botswana, Namibia


Seminar Presentation:

American Economic Association Annual Meeting, Society of Economic Dynamics, Econometric Society Meetings, Midwest Macro Meeting, NBER Summer Institute, NBER Economic Growth Group, Columbia University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, George Washington University, Georgetown University, Harvard University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Johns Hopkins University-SAIS, London School of Business, London School of Economics, University of Notre Dame, Ohio State University, Stanford University, Peking University, Tsinghua University, Tokyo University, University of California at Irvine, University of California at Santa Cruz, San Francisco State University, University of London-Royal Holloway, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Federal Reserve Board, Fed-St Louis, Fed-Dallas, Fed-Minneapolis, Bank of Canada, Bank of England, Bank of France, ECB, IMF research department, OECD, Bank of England, Bank of France


Teaching:

Lecturer, IMF External/Internal Training Courses: Macroeconomic Forecasting, Macroeconomic Diagnostics, Financial Programming and Policy (including On-line learning), Financial Inclusion, Early Warning Exercise, External Sector Assessment

Instructor: International Finance (undergraduate), International Trade and Open Macroeconomics (Ph.D), Department of Economics, Ohio State University


Work in progress:

“Monetary Policy Transmission to the Household Sector in Uganda” with Andrea Presbitero and Cedric Okou.

"Knowledge Flows through FDI" with Jaebin Ahn, Chan Kim and Andrea Manera.

“Reform Contagion: Understanding the Dynamics of Worldwide Financial Liberalization” with Chris Papageorgiou, Tong Xu and Tao Zha.

"Services Trade, FDI and Restrictions" with Alessandro Barattieri and Qiuyan Yin.

“Exchange Rates and Trade in Services: Evidence for Dominant Currency” with Gita Gopinath and Sergii Meleshchuk.

“Exchange Rate Passthrough: The Role of Exporters’ Financing Decisions” with Camila Cases, Sergii Meleshchuk and Yannick Timmer.


Field of Expertise:

Open Economy Macroeconomics

International Trade

International Finance

Development Economics

Poverty and Inequality

Economic Modeling

IMF Books and Working Papers:

Dominant Currencies and External Adjustment , Staff Discussion Note No. 20/05 , July 20, 2020

The External Balance Assessment Methodology: 2018 Update , Working Paper No. 19/65 , March 19, 2019

Effective Trade Costs and the Current Account: An Empirical Analysis , Working Paper No. 19/8 , January 15, 2019

Real Sectoral Spillovers: A Dynamic Factor Analysis of the Great Recession , Working Paper No. 18/100 , May 09, 2018

China’s Rising IQ (Innovation Quotient) and Growth : Firm-level Evidence , Working Paper No. 16/249 , December 22, 2016

Emerging Market Business Cycles : The Role of Labor Market Frictions , Working Paper No. 12/237 , October 02, 2012

IMF Country Reports

“Argentina Ex-post Evaluation of Exceptional Access under the 2018 SBA” with Odd Per Brekk and others, Board Paper, December 2021, featured in The Economist, Financial Times, Bloomberg.

IMF Occasional Papers, Pamphlets, and Special Issues Papers

“Inequality and Mobility During the COVID-19 Crisis: The South African Experience” with Chris Papageorgiou and Antonio Spilimbergo, South Africa 2022 AIV Annex. Presentation at the Surveillance Meeting.

“Dominant Currencies and External Adjustment” with Gustavo Alders and others, Staff Discussion Note No. 20/05, 2020.

iMFdirect Blog Posts

“COVID’s Long Shadow: Social Repercussions of Pandemics”, with Phillip Barrett and Sophia Chen, Research Perspectives, 2020; IMF blog, 2021.

Selected Issue

Guatemala—Fiscal Sustainability Assessment, June 2013

Other Published Materials

"Manufacturing Jobs: Implications For Productivity and Inequality" with Wenjie Chen, Bertrand Gruss, Weicheng Lian, Natalija Novta and Yu Shi. IMF World Economic Outlook, April 2018.

“Severe Epidemics in Modern History: Growth, Debt and Civil Unrest” with Mattia Coppo, RES COVID-19 Special Note, 2020.

Publications in Journals (Refereed)

“China’s Rising IQ (Innovation Quotient) and Growth: Firm-level Evidence” with Jing Fang and Hui He, 2020, Journal of Development Economics.

“Knowledge Diffusion, Trade and Innovation across Countries and Sectors” with Jie Cai and Ana Maria Santacreu. 2020, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics.

"Growth Through Intersectoral Knowledge Linkages" with Jie Cai, 2019, Review of Economic Studies.

"Real Sectoral Spillovers: A Dynamic Factor Analysis of the Great Recession" with Vance Martin. 2018, Journal of Monetary Economics.

"International Transmission With Heterogeneous Sectors" with Keyu Jin, 2018, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics.

"Value-Added Trade and Business Cycle Synchronization" with Romain Duval, Richa Saraf and Dulani Seneviratne, 2015, Journal of International Economics.

“Frequency Bias in Consumers’ Perceptions of Inflation”, with Sotiris Georganas and Paul Healy, 2014, European Economic Review.

“Labor Market Search in Emerging Economies”, with Emine Boz and Bora Durdu, 2014, Journal of Money, Banking and Credit

“Transaction Costs, Incomplete Markets, and Exchange Rate Fluctuations”, 2012, Macroeconomic Dynamics

“Cyclical Wage Movements in Emerging Markets Compared to Developed Economies: The Role of Interest Rates”, 2011, Review of Economic Dynamics

Other Published Materials

“Effective Trade Costs and the Current Account,” with Emine Boz and Hongrui Zhang, VoxEU, 2019.