Zhang Lei is a tenured professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Economics of Zhejiang University. She received her bachelor's and master's degrees in economics from Peking University and her doctorate in economics from Stanford University. Her main research interests include public economics and educational economics. Her academic papers have been published in top journals including Economic Journal, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Human Capital, Journal of Comparative Economics, Economic Development and Cultural Change, Economic Research Journal (in Chinese), Economic Quarterly (in Chinese). She won the 8th Higher Education Institutions Outstanding Scientific Research Achievement Award of the Ministry of Education (2020).