She was educated at the Tsinghua University of China for her BA and MA in Economics before getting her PhD in Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science. Her research, which mostly has a policy focus, is mainly in the areas of Development Economics, Public Economics and Chinese Economy. She worked on a variety of topics – place-based policies (Special Economic Zones), government hierarchy and incentives, and the labor mobility barriers that are embedded in the hukou household registration system of China. She serves as a referee for the American Economic Review, American Economic Journal, Economic Journal, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Journal of Economic Growth, and Journal of Comparative Economics.