Professor Kung, the inaugural Griffin Chair in Economic History at the University of Melbourne Business School, specializes in economic history and development economics.

He received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Cambridge in 1993. Previously, he served as the Yan Ai Foundation Chair Professor of Social Science at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and as the Sein and Isaac Souede Chair Professor of Economic History at The University of Hong Kong Business School. At both HKUST and HKU, he also held leadership roles including Associate Dean (Research) and Head of the Division of Social Science.

Professor Kung's research focuses on Chinese economic history and political economy. To date, he has published over 50 articles in leading international journals such as the Quarterly Journal of Economics, The Economic Journal, and the Journal of Economic History, and has contributed two chapters to the Cambridge Economic History. He has held editorial positions at several top economics journals and served as a member and Chair of the Executive Committee of The Association for Comparative Economic Studies (ACES). At HKUST and HKU, he supervised 18 Ph.D. students to completion.

Personal Website: https://www.jameskung.net/