Dr. Lee is a professor of economics at Seoul National University. As the director of the Center for Economic Catch-up, he is a globally recognized expert on the subject. He is a member of the UN Committee for Development Policy, the managing editor of Seoul Journal of Economics and co-editor of Research Policy, and a member of the governing board of Globelics. He has previously worked at the World Bank, University of Aberdeen, and the East West Center in Hawaii. He has taught or been a visiting scholar at the University of California at Davis, Tsinghua University, Hitotsubashi University, Hannover University, and Punjabi University. He is the author and editor of several books and 80 articles in international journals. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.