
Jianwei Xu
Jianwei Xu is non-resident fellow at Bruegel. He is a senior economist at Natixis, Asia Pacific. He worked as a professor at Beijing Normal University. He was also a guest researcher at China Academy of Social Science and a youth member of the China Finance Forum 40.
His research mainly focuses on international economics and labor economics. He is particularly interested in topics related to the Chinese economy. He has published many papers in academic journals and also writes policy articles for the media.
He received his Ph.D. in economics from China Economic Research Center, Peking University in 2011. He was also a visiting student in Stern Business School, New York University, from 2009 to 2010.
Disclaimer of external interests
Featured work

China Economic Database
Repository of what we consider to be the most relevant macroeconomic data for China and EU-China relations.

To what extent can innovation and global economic dominance mitigate China’s structural slowdown?
Event in the frame of the project China Horizons - Dealing with a resurgent China (DWARC)*.

China’s M&A activity rebounds with a clear focus on Europe
Despite the pandemic, China’s interest in overseas M&A started to rebound in late 2020, with European industrial companies still of particular interes

China's targeted corporate shopping spree to continue, especially in Europe
Expect small, below the radar deals to continue to flourish and, by the same token, Europe to lose part of its edge in industrial technology and other

EU-China trade and investment relations in challenging times
In this report, we have focused on trade and investment relations and have not attempted to define the many other policy instruments that the EU can a
Stability remains key to China
The most concerning aspect for the Chinese economy will still be to hold up domestic demand. The rapidly rising household debt will put further breaks

How does China fare on the Russian market? Implications for the European Union
China’s economic ties with Russia are deepening. Meanwhile, Europe remains Russia’s largest trading partner, lender and investor. An analysis of China

China’s growing presence on the Russian market and what it means for the European Union
The European Union’s relationship with Russia is strained, but the two economies are nevertheless highly intertwined. A huge share of Russia’s exports
China’s investment in Africa: What the data really says, and the implications for Europe
China has clearly signalled to Europe that it does not shy away from involvement in Africa, historically Europe’s area of influence. But the nature of

The next step of the Belt and Road Initiative: Multilateralisation with Chinese characteristics
The increasingly broad objective of China's Belt and Road Initiative has attracted the attention not only from the BRI members, but also from other ma

Countries’ perceptions of China’s Belt and Road Initiative: A big data analysis
Drawing on a global database of media articles, the authors quantitatively assess perceptions of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in different c

Goodbye deleveraging: Fiscal and monetary expansion to support growth in China
China has opted for a renewed fiscal and monetary stimulus to address the risk of the US-led trade war. The dual policies send a clear signal that ec

European and Chinese trade competition in third markets: the case of Latin America
While Europe continues to hold important trade powers, the rise of China in the global economy has significantly reshaped international trade and comp

How big is China’s digital economy?
The rise of influential Chinese digital giants, including Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent and Xiaomi has shown the world that China is a global leader in digi

Why this round of U.S. protectionism is different
Although it is not the first time that the world has been caught in the China-U.S. crossfire, this round of U.S. protectionist moves against China is

How to handle state-owned enterprises in EU-China investment talks
Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) are one of the main obstacles preventing China and the European Union from agreeing a bilateral investment agre

Pharmaceutical industry at risk from Brexit
Pharmaceuticals are a hugely important industry for the EU and the UK. The sector creates thousands of jobs, billions of euros in exports, and is Euro

Financing the Belt and Road Initiative
The Belt and Road initiative, recently embarked on by China, aims to improve cross-border infrastructure in order to reduce transportation costs acros
Is the UK’s role in the European supply chain at risk?
Will the UK’s engagement in European supply chains be at risk once the UK exits the EU?

UK-China agreement on trade in services is no substitute for a UK-EU deal
The UK government has high hopes that new trade deals with non-EU states will offer an economic boost after Brexit. But how likely is this to material
Trump could give new impetus to EU-China relations
It is too early to say what the Trump administration’s trade policy will look like – but a total cut-off from Asian partners is unlikely. It would har

What consequences would a post-Brexit China-UK trade deal have for the EU?
A China-UK free trade agreement has been extensively discussed since the UK’s vote for Brexit. Many supporters of Brexit argue that the UK’s regained
What does China’s ‘belt and road initiative’ mean for EU trade?
Much has been written about the Belt and Road initiative since Xi Jinping made it Beijing’s flagship initiative in September 2013. There are many inte

China’s Belt and Road initiative: can Europe expect trade gains?
The Belt and Road aims to ease bottlenecks for cross-border trade in Asia, Europe and Africa. This paper measures empirically whether the reduction i
Assessing China’s post-Brexit globalisation strategy
As the world comes to terms with the result of the UK's Brexit referendum, what will it mean for China? The authors suggest that the short-term impact

The China-Russia trade relationship and its impact on Europe
This paper analyses empirically how increasingly close trade relations between China and Russia might affect the European Union.

China-Russia relations and their impact on Europe
The economic ties between China and Russia are growing. How will this relation affect Europe?

Will China's slowdown bring headwinds or opportunities for Europe and Central Asia?
After years of rapid growth, China's GDP is expanding more slowly.
The new silk road: what is in it for Europe
How will the new Silk Road initiative affect the European economy?