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Daniel Yi Xu

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

Overview


Professor Yi (Daniel) Xu’s research focuses on Productivity, International Trade, and Industrial Organization. He has received numerous grants from the National Science Foundation, the Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries, and the NET Institute. His most recent work has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Political Economy, the Review of Economic Studies, the Rand Journal of Economics, Management Science,  Review of Economic Dynamics, and the World Bank Economic Review. He is currently the co-editor of the Review of Economics and Statistics and an associate editor of the Rand Journal of Economics and the American Economic Journal: Applied. He previously served as the co-editor of the Journal of Development Economics. He has been working on projects that explore innovation, productivity, exporting and industry dynamics, with a special focus on emerging economies such as China, Colombia, Taiwan, Korea, and Turkey.

Current Appointments & Affiliations


Professor of Economics · 2017 - Present Economics, Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
Co-Director of Admissions for PhD Program of Economics · 2021 - 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

View All News

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
View All Publications

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

View All Grants

Education, Training & Certifications


Pennsylvania State University · 2007 Ph.D.

External Links


Personal Website