Rate My Professor Weijia Li

Weijia Li is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Monash Business School, Monash University, holding a position equivalent to Assistant Professor since October 2018. He is affiliated with Impact Labs and research groups including Industrial Organisation and Applied Theory (IOAT) and Development, History, and Political Economy (DeHiPE). Li earned his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley in August 2018 and a Bachelor's degree in Economics and Finance from Tsinghua University in July 2012. His research specializations encompass political economics, economic history, organizational economics, and development economics. Key areas of focus include meritocracy in autocracies, the erosion of state power and corruption control, crony capitalism in party-states, performance rewards and property rights, dual leadership and bureaucratic capacity, Hobbesian wars and separation of powers, as well as the institutional and religious foundations of constitutional government.

Li's publications appear in top-tier journals such as The Economic Journal and Journal of Comparative Economics. Selected works include "Crony capitalism, the party-state, and the political boundaries of corruption" (with Gérard Roland and Yang Xie, Journal of Comparative Economics, 2022), "Erosion of state power, corruption control and fiscal capacity" (with Gérard Roland and Yang Xie, The Economic Journal, 2022), "Meritocracy in autocracies: origins and consequences" (Australian Economic History Review, 2020), and "Rotation, performance rewards, and property rights" (The Economic Journal, 2025). He serves as an associate editor for The Economic Journal. Awards and honors include the 2020 Asia-Pacific Prize in Economic History for "Dual Leadership and Bureaucratic Capacity," Dean’s Purple Letter for Teaching Excellence (2021 and 2022), Learning and Teaching Prize (2021), and participation in the 2019 CASBS Summer Institute: Organizations and Their Effectiveness at Stanford University. Li accepts PhD students and contributes to Sustainable Development Goal 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth.