Xia Li holds a Ph.D. in Public and Urban Policy from The New School. Her research interests center on structural inequality, poverty reduction, social class stratification, and policy analysis. Her dissertation investigated the variation in urban public-school enrollment eligibility requirements for migrant children to promote a better understanding of local education policymaking in China. Currently, Xia is working with Dr. Qin Gao to study the effects of the targeted poverty alleviation (TPA) strategy on multidimensional poverty and family consumption in rural China.
Xia Li is an India China Institute fellow and the recipient of the 2019-2020 NYU Faculty First-Look scholarship and the 2019 Equity and Inclusion Fellowship from the Association for Public Policy Analysis and Management (APPAM). She has previously worked as an adjunct faculty at Fordham University, an adjunct associate at Columbia University, and a teaching fellow at The New School. Xia received her BA in Sociology from China Youth University of Political Studies, an MPA from Rutgers University, and an MA in Urban Planning and Management from Renmin University of China.