Professor Jane Golley

Professor, Arndt-Corden Department of Economics
Crawford School of Public Policy

Professor Jane Golley is an economist and professor in the Arndt-Corden Department of Economics at the Crawford School of Public Policy. Jane is an ANU graduate (BEc, Hons, 1993). Jane's life-long interest in China began with a brief stint in the Asia Section of the Australian Commonwealth Treasury in 1993, before she left for the University of Oxford, where she wrote her Dphil thesis on 'The Dynamics of Chinese Regional Development: Market Nature, State Nurture'.

Jane’s research has covered a wide range of topics centred around the Chinese economy, often intersecting with other disciplines. Her early work on regional development focused on the uneven patterns of economic geography in China’s industrial development, spurring ongoing research into other sources of inequality, including rural-urban and gender inequalities in education and income. Another long-term research agenda has explored the economic impacts of demographic change in China, including the global impacts of the one- and two-child policies and rising gender imbalances. Other research projects have examined the interplay between the economy and the environment, such as the relationship between income inequality and carbon dioxide emissions associated with China’s pursuit of ‘green growth’. Her latest inter-disciplinary endeavours have taken her towards politics and international relations, with topics ranging from China’s growing geoeconomics capabilities and ‘geoeducation’ strategies, to the impact of its bilateral political relations on its patterns of trade.

Research interests

Jane specialises in the Chinese economy, doing applied research on a wide range of development and transition issues. Past research has covered: regional development and inequality; household consumption and carbon dioxide emissions; rural-urban migration and urbanisation; gender imbalances and economic growth; inter-generational transmission of education outcomes; and Socialism with Chinese characteristics. 

Recent research interests include Inequality of Opportunity in education and income, the relationship between demographic change and economic growth (e.g. the shift from the one- to two-child policy); and the Geoeconomics of the Belt and Road Initiative.