Zhong Zhao is an associate dean and a professor of economics at the School of Labou and Human Resources, Renmin University of China, and a member of the university academic committee. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics from Renmin University of China and a doctorate degree in economics from Johns Hopkins University. His main areas of interest are labour economics, applied microeconometrics, social programme evaluation and economy of China. His recent research topics on China include earnings instability and inequality, rural-urban disparity, rural-urban migration, labour relations, and health and health care reform in China. He has published in both international and Chinese economics journals such as Review of Economics and Statistics, Review of Income and Wealth, Journal of the Royal Statistical Society (Series A) , Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Economics Letters, Journal of Population Economics, and Journal of Comparative Economics. He is a recipient of the 2013 Kuznets Prize of the Journal of Population Economics.

	Selected publications by Zhong Zhao
Articles (journal, professional, popular)
Tang, Can, Liqiu Zhao & Zhong Zhao, 2020, Free Education Helps Combat Child Labor? The Effect of a Free Compulsory Education Reform in Rural China, Journal of Population Economics, 33: 601-631
Campos, Nauro, P. Koutroumpis, Menelaos G. Karanasos & Zhong Zhao, 2020, Political Instability, Institutional Change and Economic Growth in Brazil since 1870, Journal of Institutional Economics, 16(6): 883-910
Akee, Randall, Liqiu Zhao & Zhong Zhao, 2019, Unintended consequences of China's new labor contract law on unemployment and welfare loss of the workers, China Economic Review, 53(C): 87-105, DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2018.08.008
Zheng, Liang & Zhong Zhao, 2017, What drives spatial clusters of entrepreneurship in China? : Evidence from economic census data, China Economic Review, 46: 229-248, DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2017.09.014
Qu, Zhaopeng & Zhong Zhao, 2017, Glass ceiling effect in urban China: Wage inequality of rural-urban migrants during 2002–2007, China Economic Review, 42: 118-144, DOI: 10.1016/j.chieco.2016.12.002, More information
Wang, Fei, Liqiu Zhao & Zhong Zhao, 2017, China’s family planning policies and their labor market consequences, Journal of Population Economics, 30(1): 31-68, DOI: 10.1007/s00148-016-0613-0, More information
UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Tang, Can & Zhong Zhao, 2022, Informal institution meets child development: Clan culture and child labor in China, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2022-032
Qu, Zhaopeng & Zhong Zhao, 2016, Glass ceiling effect in urban China: Wage inequality of rural-urban migrants during 2002-2007, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2016-069
Zhao, Liqiu, Fei Wang & Zhong Zhao, 2016, Trade liberalisation and child labour in China, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2016-054
Tang, Can, Liqiu Zhao & Zhong Zhao, 2016, Child labour in China, UNU-MERIT Working Paper 2016-036