Danielle Li

Danielle Li is the Class of 1922 Career Development Professor, and an Associate Professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, as well as a Faculty Research Fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Her research interests are in economics of innovation and labor economics, with a focus on how organizations evaluate ideas, projects, and people.

Danielle's work has been published in leading academic journals across a range of fields, including the Quarterly Journal of Economics, Science, and Management Science. In addition, her work has been regularly featured in media outlets such as the Economist, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal.

She has previously taught at the Harvard Business School and the Kellogg School of Management. She holds an AB in mathematics and the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in economics from MIT.

Education

• Doctor of Philosophy - PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2006 — 2012)
• Bachelor of Arts - BA Harvard University (2001 — 2005)

Publications

FEATURED PUBLICATION

• "Discretion in Hiring."
  Hoffman, Mitchell, Lisa Kahn, and Danielle Li. Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 133, No. 2 (2018): 765-800.

FEATURED PUBLICATION

• "Public R&D Investments and Private Sector Patenting: Evidence from NIH Funding Rules."
  Azoulay, Pierre, Joshua S. Graff Zivin, Danielle Li, and Bhaven N. Sampat. Review of Economic Studies Vol. 86, No. 1 (2019): 117-152.

• "Insurance Design and Pharmaceutical Innovation."
  Agha, Leila, Soomi Kim, and Danielle Li. American Economic Review: Insights. Forthcoming. Download Preprint.

• "Missing Novelty in Drug Development."
  Joshua Krieger, Danielle Li, and Dimitris Papanikolaou. Review of Financial Studies. Forthcoming. Download Preprint.

• "Scientific Grant Funding."
  Azoulay, Pierre, and Danielle Li. In Innovation and Public Policy, edited by Austan Goolsbee and Ben Jones, Innovation and Public Policy: University of Chicago Press, Forthcoming.

• "'Potential' and the Gender Promotion Gap."
  Benson, Alan, Danielle Li, and Kelly Shue, MIT Sloan Working Paper 6484-21. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, October 2021.

• "Internal Deadlines, Drug Approvals, and Safety Problems."
  Cohen, Lauren, Umit G. Gurun, and Danielle Li. American Economic Review: Insights Vol. 1, No. 3 (2021): 67-82.

• "Trust, Collaboration, and Economic Growth."
  Kondo, Jiro, Danielle Li, and Dimitris Papanikolaou. Management Science Vol. 67, No. 3 (2021): 1825-1850.

• "Hiring as Exploration."
  Li, Danielle, Lindsey Raymond, and Peter Bergman, MIT Sloan Working Paper 6485-21. Cambridge, MA: MIT Sloan School of Management, 2021.

• "​Promotions and the 'Peter Principle'."
  Benson, Alan, Danielle Li, and Kelly Shue. Quarterly Journal of Economics Vol. 134, No. 4 (2019): 2085–2134.

• "Expertise versus Bias in Evaluation: Evidence from the NIH."
  Li, Danielle. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics Vol. 9, No. 2 (2017): 60-92.

• "​The Applied Value of Public Investments in Biomedical Research."
  Li, Danielle, Pierre Azoulay, and Bhaven N. Sampat. Science Vol. 356, No. 6333 (2017): 78-81.

• "Big Names or Big Ideas: Do Peer Review Panels Select the Best Science Proposals?"
  Li, Danielle, and Leila Agha. Science Vol. 348, No. 6233 (2015): 434-438.