Nan Li
Last Updated: August 19, 2025
Nan Li is the Deputy Division Chief at the Development Macroeconomics division of the Research Department. Prior to that, she was economist in the African Department and the Institute for Capacity Development of the IMF. Before joining the Fund, she was an Assistant Professor of Economics at The Ohio State University. Nan's work focuses on international macroeconomics, trade, innovation, and economic growth. Her research has been published in leading academic journals, including the Review of Economic Studies, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Monetary Economics and Journal of International Economics. She holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Stanford University and a B.S. in Finance and Economics from Peking University, China
Personal WebPage: https://sites.google.com/view/nanliweb/home
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, Bruegel, Columbia University, Chinese University of Hong Kong, European University Institute, 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, Luiss University, 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, Central Bank of Chile, Bank of England, Bank of France, Bank of Italy, 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 Household Credit: Evidence from Uganda's Credit Registry Data” with Marina Martinez, Elizabeth Kasekende, Adam Mugume, Samuel Musoke, Cedric Okou and Andrea Presbitero,
"Policy Restrictions: Another Brick in the Wall for Greenfield FDI in Services" with Alessandro Barattieri and Qiuyan Yin
"The Allocation of Talent and Income Across Countries" with Robert Zymek and Liang Zhang
“Global Commodity Booms and Firm Productivity: Evidence from Chile's Administrative Data" with Pablo Filippi, Ryan Kim, Maria Jesus Peres, and Younghun Shim.
Field of Expertise:
Open Economy Macroeconomics
International Trade
International Finance
Development Economics
Poverty and Inequality
Economic Modeling