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2122 Symons Hall 7998 Regents Drive College Park, Maryland 20742-5535

Expertise

  • Development Economics
  • Household Finance

Biography

Biography:

Jing Cai is an Associate Professor at the University of Maryland. She received her PhD from the University of California at Berkeley in 2012. Her research areas are development economics and household finance. Her current research examines the growth of micro-enterprises and SMEs, impacts of tax incentives on firm behavior, and diffusion and impacts of financial innovations in developing countries. Dr. Cai is a Co-Chair of the firm sector of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL), a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), and an affiliate of the Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD). She currently serves as an associate editor of the American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, the Journal of Development Economics, and the Economic Development and Cultural Change. 

Education:

Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, Agricultural and Resource Economics, 2012
M.A. University of California, Berkeley, Statistics, 2009
M.S. Peking University, Finance, 2006
B.S. Beijing Normal University, Computer Science, 2004

Research

Areas of Interest: 

  • Diffusion and impact of financial innovations
  • Identifying ways to improve the growth of micro, small and medium enterprises, and impacts of tax policies on firm behavior

Publications

Selected Publications:

“Improving Management through Worker Evaluations: Evidence from Auto Manufacturing”, with Shing-Yi
Wang, forthcoming, Quarterly Journal of Economics.

“Subsidy Policies and Insurance Demand”, with Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet, 2020. American Economic Review, 110(8): 2422-53.

“Industrial Policy in China: Some Unintended Consequences?” with Ann Harrison, Industrial and Labor
Relations Review
, November 2019, 1-36.

“Interfirm Relationships and Business Performance”, with Adam Szeidl, 2018, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 133(3): 1229-1282.

“Do Disaster Experiences and Knowledge Affect Insurance Take-up?” with Changcheng Song, Journal of Development Economics, January 2017, 124: 83-94.

“The Impact of Insurance Provision on Household Production and Financial Decisions”, American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, May 2016, 8(2): 44-88.

“Industrial Policy and Competition”, with Phillipe Aghion, Mathias Dewatripont, Luosha Du, Ann Harrison, and Patrick Legros, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, October 2015, 7(4): 1-32.

“Social Networks and the Decision to Insure”, with Alain de Janvry and Elisabeth Sadoulet, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, April 2015, 7(2): 81-108.