Yudong Rao

Ph.D. candidate at Washington University in St. Louis

Truth Seeker (Kristin Vestgard)

Yudong Rao

Hi, welcome to my personal website!

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at Washington University in St. Louis, with prior experience at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), where I worked as a PhD Intern in the Expenditure Policy Division of the Fiscal Affairs Department (Summer 2024) and as a Research Analyst in the Lending Division of the Strategy, Policy, and Review Department (2019–2022).

Before my PhD, I also gained experience across several industries, including technology (IBM, 2016), journalism (Caixin Global, 2018), and the film industry (Delirio Films, 2016). I completed my undergraduate studies in Accounting at the University of Iowa and earned a master’s degree from the Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management at Cornell University.

My research interests include:

Macroeconomics
Monetary economics
International economics
Banking and financial institutions
Financial markets
Large language models for economic and policy applications
Digital assets, with a focus on stablecoins

rao.y@wustl.edu

Research

Evolution of Bilateral Swap Lines (with Michael Perks, Jongsoon Shin, and Kiichi Tokuoka) [link] (being cited by The Economist , The Wall Street Journal, and the IMF Blog in ‘Dollar Dominance and the Rise of Nontraditional Reserve Currencies’) IMF Working Paper No. 2021/210

Global Pension Reform Database 1952 – 2025: From Narrative to Data Using Large Language Models. (with Boele Bonthuis)

Presented at IMF Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) Seminar June 2025. Contributed to the Fiscal Monitor, April 2025.

FHLB as Lender of First Resort: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. (Solo)

Presented at the Finance Theory Group (FTG) Summer School, 2025, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; the AFA PhD Student Poster Session (with travel grant), 2026, Philadelphia, PA; the Asia Meeting of the Econometric Society, 2026, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; and will present at the North American Summer Meeting, 2026, Atlanta, GA.

Stablecoins, Banks, and Credit. (Solo)

Contributions to Policy Works

Fund Concessional Financial Support For Low-Income Countries—Responding To The Pandemic., 2021, IMF Policy Paper No. 2021/053

Macroeconomic Developments and Prospects In Low-Income Countries—2021., 2021, IMF Policy Paper No. 2021/020

Eligibility to Use the Fund’s Facilities for Concessional Financing, 2020., 2020, IMF Policy Paper No. 2020/016

Temporary Modification to the Fund's Annual Access Limits, 2020

Temporary Extensions and Modifications of Access Limits in the Fund’s Lending Facilities, 2021

Policy Safeguards for Countries Seeking Access to Fund Financial Support That Would Lead to High Levels of Combined GRA-PRGT Exposure, 2020

Review of Enhanced Access Limits Under the Rapid Credit Facility and Rapid Financing Instrument, 2020

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