Ruixue Jia is a professor of economics at the School of Global Policy and Strategy at UC San Diego. She serves as co-editor of the Review of Economics and Statistics, co-director of the China Data Lab, executive secretary of the Association of Comparative Economic Studies (ACES), and co-chair of the China Economic Summer Institute (CESI).

Her research lies at the intersection of economics, history, and politics, examining how power structures evolve and shape economic development. Her recent work has focused on the political economy of idea formation and diffusion, with attention to the interplay among the state, education, science, and technology.

Jia is affiliated with the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR), CESifo, and the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). She has published over 20 articles in leading economics journals and is coauthor of The Highest Exam, a new book on how China’s education system mirrors and molds society.