The economics discipline at Zhejiang University, inheriting the academic legacy of Qiushi Academy, was first established in 1929 as one of the earliest economics departments in China's institutions of higher education. After the institutional restructuring following Zhejiang University’s 1998 merger, the School of Economics was formally established in 1999 through the integration of the former School of International Economics and Trade of Zhejiang University, the former School of Finance, Economics and Trade of Hangzhou University, and the former School of Economics and Trade of Zhejiang Agricultural University.

The School currently comprises 5 academic departments: the Department of Economics, the Department of Finance, the Department of Public Finance, the Department of International Economics, and the Department of Labor Economics. It offers 2 first-level discipline doctoral degree programs, 13 second-level discipline doctoral degree programs, and 2 postdoctoral research stations for first-level disciplines. It is also home to a Ministry of Education-approved base for the Top-notch Student Training Program 2.0 in Basic Disciplines. The School has established partnerships with many renowned universities worldwide, including Columbia University, Boston University, the National University of Singapore, and the University of Hong Kong.

The School currently has more than 1,700 enrolled students, including over 300 international students. Its student body includes 1,000 undergraduate students, more than 500 master’s students, and over 200 doctoral students. The School has over 200 faculty and staff members, including 2 Senior Professors of Liberal Arts, 2 Tsingshan Chair Professors, 1 Fellow of the Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), 2 Fellows of the Econometric Society, 9 recipients of national-level leading talent programs, 2 Zhejiang provincial special experts, and 7 recipients of national-level outstanding young talents programs.

The School regards moral education and talent cultivation as its fundamental mission. It is committed to cultivating a new generation capable of shouldering the responsibility of national rejuvenation, enabling those who know how to study to become those who know how to create. The School provides high-quality talent and intellectual support for developing new quality productive forces and advancing Chinese modernization, and has supplied various sectors of society with more than 40,000 outstanding graduates. Focusing on national strategies for regional development, the School has built high-level platforms for academic research and think-tank services. It actively undertakes major national research projects and national high-end think-tank projects, and has developed strong academic reputation across fields including the private economy and socialist economic theory with Chinese characteristics, open economy and development, digital economy and macroeconomics, human capital and economic development, artificial intelligence and econometrics, macro-finance and digital finance, digital trade and green development, and digital public finance and government governance. Through these efforts, the School contributes to building an independent knowledge system of economics in China and to the prosperity and development of philosophy and social sciences.

After nearly a century of development, especially since the university merger and the establishment of the School, the School of Economics, Zhejiang University has gradually evolved into a research-oriented and innovative institution with a solid academic foundation, distinctive strengths, and broad influence both domestically and internationally. It has been recognized as a first-class institution in major domestic and international evaluations and continues to advance toward its goal of becoming a top-tier domestic and world-class school.