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.
Disclosure of interests
Featured work
China economic database
Repository of what we consider to be the most relevant macroeconomic data for China and EU-China relations.
The Chinese economy: stimulus without rebalancing
China remains hesitant about rebalancing its growth model towards greater consumption
How is innovation competition exacerbating global overcapacity?
The world is moving into a period of entrenched manufacturing overcapacity, threatening deflation and stagnant growth
European companies operating in China: from digging in to rethinking their presence
EU firms in China face low profits, rising pressure and reduced expansion, prompting strategy shifts and calls for stronger EU support
All work
Dataset
16 October 2025
China economic database
Repository of what we consider to be the most relevant macroeconomic data for China and EU-China relations.
Event
14 October 2025
China Horizons: EU policy Takeaways from China’s politics, economy, foreign policy, society and EU-China dynamics
The final conference of the China Horizons research consortium
Analysis
26 August 2025
The Chinese economy: stimulus without rebalancing
China remains hesitant about rebalancing its growth model towards greater consumption
Analysis
18 August 2025
How is innovation competition exacerbating global overcapacity?
The world is moving into a period of entrenched manufacturing overcapacity, threatening deflation and stagnant growth
Working paper
14 July 2025
European companies operating in China: from digging in to rethinking their presence
EU firms in China face low profits, rising pressure and reduced expansion, prompting strategy shifts and calls for stronger EU support
Policy Brief
27 February 2025
Will China’s economy follow the same path as Japan’s?
Since the 2021 bursting of its real-estate bubble, worries have grown that China's future economic trajectory will mirror that of Japan in the 1990s
Podcast
27 February 2025
Is China headed for its own ‘lost decade’?
Comparing China and Japan’s economic slowdowns
Working paper
09 October 2023
To what extent can urbanisation mitigate the negative impact of population ageing in China?
Our analysis reveals that ageing accounts for only about 1 percentage point of the GDP growth rate deceleration over the past decade.
Event
21 June 2023
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)*.
Blog post
04 May 2021
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