Dr Yifei Cao

Yifei studied economics at the University of Sheffield (fully funded by the Economic and Social Research Council) and received his PhD in 2018. During his PhD study in the UK, he worked as a Graduate Teaching Assistant at the Department of Economics, University of Sheffield, and conducted two internships at the Prudential Policy Directorate, Bank of England. He then joined the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) in 2018 as a faculty member, conducting world-class economics research and teaching economics to undergraduate, master and PhD students.

Yifei specialises in empirical banking studies on topics of bank lending, banking stability and macro-prudential policie. He has published a series of research in high-quality economics journals. Yifei’s teaching is also well received - his undergraduate module, Monetary Economics, was recognised as the Provincial First-Class module by the Zhejiang Government in 2022.

Yifei served as the interim Associate Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at UNNC from 2021 to 2023, developing the Faculty education strategy and handling COVID-related challenges. Together with his team, Yifei has secured over 1 million RMB from an external funding body, which was converted into top-quality educational resources for UNNC students. Yifei contributed significantly to the delivery of UK Higher Education in China and received the Lord Dearing Award in 2024 for his exceptional performance.

Apart from his academic achievements, Yifei also actively engages in real-world business. Alongside an award-winning team (e.g. WEF Lighthouse Factory, iF Design Award), Yifei co-founded WeDigitec, a start-up that delivers solutions and implementation for digital transformation and intelligent manufacturing, aiming to empower the industry with cutting-edge AI technology. Yifei was officially recognised by the Kunshan Government as an Innovative and Entrepreneurial Talent in 2023.

Yifei's research interest lies in the below areas:

• Bank Competition, Bank Lending and Financial Stability
• Effectiveness and Unintended Consequences of Macro-prudential Policies
• Economic Implications of the Rise of Fintech
• Sovereign-Bank Nexus
• Chinese Banking Sector
• Household Finance

Yifei is currently teaching the MSc module Macro-prudential Regulation and Financial Conduct and the undergraduate module Monetary Economics at UNNC.

Previously, serving as a graduate teaching assistant at University of Sheffield, he had been involved in teaching and tutoring a variety of undergraduate and MSc modules including: Economic Analysis and Policy (UG), Statistical Methods for Economics (UG), Econometric Methods (MSc), Applied Macroeconometrics (MSc), and Modern Theory of Banking and Finance (MSc).