Rate My Professor Hongbo Cai

Professor Hongbo Cai is a Professor and PhD supervisor in the Department of International Economics and Trade at the Business School of Beijing Normal University. He currently serves as Associate Dean of the Business School, Director of the Free Trade Zone Research Center, Director of the Educational Robot Industry Research Center, Vice Dean of the Belt and Road School, and Director of the Finance Division. Cai earned his B.S. in Economics from Fuzhou University in 2004 and his Ph.D. in Economics from Xiamen University in 2009. During his doctoral studies, he was a visiting PhD student at the Australian National University. He has held visiting researcher positions at Stanford University from 2013 to 2014 and the University of Macerata since 2010. Joining Beijing Normal University in 2009 as an Assistant Professor, he advanced to Associate Professor and became full Professor in September 2018.

Cai's research focuses on international trade, labor economics, environmental economics, digital economy, and the Belt and Road Initiative. He has authored books including Outsourcing and China Labor Market (Beijing Normal University Press, 2016), Frontier Issues of International Service Trade (Economic Science Press, 2016), and Bilateral Free Trade Agreement: Theoretical Reconstruction and Empirical Research (China Economy Press, 2011). He has also written textbooks such as International Service Trade (multiple editions, 2012-2016). Notable publications include articles in Economic Research (Tax Incentives, Supply Chain Spillover, and Digital Transformation, 2023), Management World (Digital Technology Application and Firm Export Performance, 2024; How Does the Belt and Road Initiative Promote Trade Development in Ethnic Regions?, 2021), The World Economy (Tax Avoidance Motives, Mechanisms, and Scale of Firms' Outward Foreign Direct Investment, 2022), China Industrial Economics (multiple papers, 2020-2024), and Journal of World Business (Migrants and Exports: Decomposing the Link, 2021). With over 180 publications in top journals, he is an ESI Top 1% highly cited author in economics and business. Cai has received the T.K. Ann International Trade Award (2018), the highest honor in China's international trade scholarship, the An Zikai International Trade Research Award, and multiple Beijing Normal University teaching awards including first prize in the Young Teachers’ Teaching Basic Skills Competition. He leads major National Social Science Fund projects on open economy security and serves as a member of the State Council's Eighth Tariff Code Committee Expert Consultation Committee and Secretary-General of the Service Economy and Trade Forum of the National University International Trade Discipline Collaboration Group.