Jie Bai

Jie Bai is an Associate Professor in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. She received her Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in June 2016, and spent one year at Microsoft Research New England prior to joining HKS in 2017.

Her research focuses on firms and markets in developing countries and emerging economies, addressing two broad questions: First, what are the key barriers and constraints that hinder firm growth and upgrading in developing countries? Second, understanding these, how can we then structure effective policies to alleviate firm-level constraints and market frictions to facilitate private sector development? Methodologically, Professor Bai combines large-scale randomized control trials, quasi-experimental applied micro techniques, and structural modeling tools from industrial organization and international trade. Her research sheds light on how firms make decision, and how markets are organized to generate incentives and allocate resources.

For the past ten years, Professor Bai has conducted research in China, East Africa and Southeast Asia, where she has collaborated with governments and non-government organizations to design, implement and evaluate industrial, trade and development policies. 

She received her Ph.D. in Economics from MIT in June 2016, and spent one year at Microsoft Research New England prior to joining HKS in 2017. 

Research Interests: Firms, markets, international development, trade and industrial policy