Established in August 1978 and known as the Institute of Agricultural Economics before 1985, the Rural Development Institute (RDI) is a national academic institution specializing in the studies of China's rural issues under the Academic Division of Economics of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS) which is the premier academic organization affiliated with the State Council and comprehensive research center in the fields of philosophy and social sciences in China.

RDI encompasses 10 research divisions, 1 editorial office, 2 functional divisions, 1 think tank, 5 non-entity research centers, 6 affiliated national societies, as well as RDI Post-doctoral Research Program and the Department of Rural Development of CASS Graduate School. At the end of February 2019, there were 81 employees, of whom 44 had obtained senior titles, 56 had obtained doctor’s degree, and 14 had obtained master’s degree.

Renowned economists and management scientists, such as Wu Zhan, Guichen Wang, Jiyuan Chen, Xiaoshan Zhang and Zhou Li, have served in succession as RDI’s Director General. The current leaders are Prof. Dr. Houkai Wei (Director General), Prof. Dr. Zhixiong Du (Deputy Director General), Mr. Chaofeng Huang (Deputy Director General) and Prof. Dr. Peng Yuan (Deputy Director General).

II. Missions and Research Areas

The missions are:

(I) to explore the law of economic and social development in rural areas in China;

(II) to provide the research-based policy solutions and advices on rural development;

(III) to become a national-leading research center that exerts influence in the world, a personnel-training base and a top think tank through the academic research, decision consultation, personnel training, editing and publishing in the field of agricultural, rural and peasant studies.

The research areas mainly include rural economic analysis and forecast, theory and policy of rural development, rural governance, rural organizations and institutions, urban-rural relations and development planning, rural industrial and regional economy, rural poverty and farmers' welfare, rural ecological environment and resource conservation, agricultural market and trade, rural finance and banking, land economy and rural human resources, rural informatization and urbanization.