Runzhuo Zhai holds a D.Phil. in Economic History from the University of Oxford and is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development, Renmin University of China, as well as a Research Fellow at the Institute of Agrarian History, Renmin University. He also serves on the editorial board of Rural China. His research interests include historical economic growth, agricultural and environmental history, and development economics. His doctoral dissertation, Toward the Great Divergence: Economic Growth in the Yangzi Delta, 1393–1953, was awarded the Best Dissertation Prize at the 2025 Asia-Pacific Economic and Business History Conference, a biennial award recognizing the best doctoral dissertation in economic history within the Asia-Pacific region.

His primary focus is the long-run trajectory of economic growth in human societies—spanning centuries and even millennia—and encompasses both its measurement and underlying mechanisms. His work is related to, but not limited to, the well-known Maddison Project. He is interested not only in quantitative measurement, but also in the narratives behind the data. For instance, he studies the broad range of factors that drive long-term economic growth and development. Recently, he has become particularly interested in how environmental changes beyond human society, as well as ideological and intellectual transformations within it, have shaped economic outcomes. While his main regional focus is China and East Asia, his research is not confined to these areas.