Yao Amber Li is an Associate Professor of Economics in School of Business and Management and Faculty Associate of the Institute for Emerging Market Studies (IEMS) at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). Her major fields are international trade, international macroeconomics, and Chinese economy.

Her research interests include knowledge diffusion, technology transfer, quality upgrading, multinational firms, and economic geography. Her recent work has focused on understanding the frictions in knowledge diffusion and the strategic responses of firms to external shocks (e.g., trade liberalisation and exchange rate shocks).

She worked as a Research Fellow in Planning Research Institute at Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China between 2003 and 2005 and participated in a series of China’s national level research projects as well as drafting and revising some of China’s national industrial policies. She is also a Research Affiliate of the China Research and Policy Group at University of Western Ontario. She received an MA (2003) and a BA (2001) in Economics from Peking University and earned a Ph.D. in Economics from University of Western Ontario in 2010.