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Daniel Yi Xu

David Rubenstein Distinguished Professor of Economics
Economics
Box 90097, Durham, NC 27708
220 Social Sciences Bldg, Box 90097, Durham, NC 27708

Overview


Daniel Yi Xu is the David Rubenstein Distinguished Professor of Economics at Duke University, a Faculty Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Research Fellow at the Center for Economic Policy Research, and a Senior Fellow at the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research.
His research focuses on the intersection of productivity, international trade, and industrial organization. Professor Xu’s current research agenda involves the use of large-scale microdata to model and estimate a broad range of dynamic individual firm decisions and to examine how these decisions impact resource allocation, industry performance, and economic growth, particularly in developing and emerging economies.
His most recent work has been published in leading economics journals, including the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, RAND Journal of Economics, Review of Economic Dynamics, and Management Science. Professor Xu is currently a co-editor of the American Economic Journal: Microeconomics and an associate editor of the RAND Journal of Economics. He previously served as co-editor for the Review of Economics and Statistics and the Journal of Development Economics. Additionally, he has been an associate editor for the American Economic Journal: Applied, Economic Journal, Journal of Industrial Economics, Journal of International Economics, Quantitative Economics, and the Review of Economics and Statistics.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


David Rubenstein Distinguished Professor of Economics · 2025 - Present Economics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Professor of Economics · 2017 - Present Economics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences

In the News


Published March 25, 2025
Duke Honors 31 New Distinguished Professors
Published April 11, 2024
How the News Stories You Share Can Nudge Businesses
Published October 9, 2013
Economics Workshop on China Brings Experts on International Trade to Duke

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Recent Publications


O-Ring Production Networks

Journal Article Journal of Political Economy · January 1, 2024 We document strong skill matching in Turkish firms’ production networks. Additionally, in the data, export demand shocks from rich countries increase firms’ skill intensity and their trade with skill-intensive domestic partners. We explain these patterns u ... Full text Cite

How Costly Are Markups?

Journal Article Journal of Political Economy · July 1, 2023 We study the welfare costs of markups in a dynamic model with hetero- geneous firms and endogenous markups. We provide aggregation re- sults summarizing the macro implications of micro-level markup het- erogeneity. We calibrate our model to US Census of Ma ... Full text Cite

Tax Policy and Lumpy Investment Behaviour: Evidence from China’s VAT Reform

Journal Article Review of Economic Studies · March 1, 2023 We incorporate the lumpy nature of firm-level investment into the study of how tax policy affects investment behaviour. We show that tax policies can directly impact the lumpiness of investment. Extensive-margin responses to tax policy are key to understan ... Full text Cite
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Recent Grants


Excellence in Research: The impact of online comparison websites on the remittance industry

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by Spelman College · 2018 - 2021

Fiscal Incentives and Firm Growth

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2017 - 2018

Collaborative Research: International Buyer-Seller Matches

ResearchPrincipal Investigator · Awarded by National Science Foundation · 2014 - 2017

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Education, Training & Certifications


Pennsylvania State University · 2007 Ph.D.

External Links


Personal Website