McKinsey China Council of Business Economists has announced the recipients of the Inaugural McKinsey China Economics Award recently. Assistant Professor Chi Wei from the Department of Human Resources and Organizational Behavior and Assistant Professor Li Bo from the Department of Management Science and Engineering won the honor for their paper on the gender pay gap on the Chinese urban labor market.

(ProfessorLaura D’Andrea Tyson confers the award to Chi Wei and Li Bo)

During the awarding ceremony held in Beijing on November 13, Laura D’Andrea Tyson, Professor at the University of California—Berkeley, who’s also Economic Advisor for US President-elect Barack Obama, conferred the award to the two professors from Tsinghua SEM. Dean of Tsinghua SEM Qian Yingyi attended the awarding ceremony.

The award presented by McKinsey China Council of Business Economists (MCCBE) recognizes young Chinese economists under the age of 40 for their work in the field of economics in China. Submissions of the papers are recommended by peers from leading academic institutions in China such as Tsinghua University, Peking University and Beijing Normal University etc. and are evaluated by a sub-committee of MCCBE. Among various evaluation criteria, the most important factor is whether the paper could serve to advance the understanding of the key economic issues facing China today.