Nancy Chau is a professor at the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University. Prior to joining the Cornell faculty in 1999, she was an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale and a research fellow at the Center for Development Research at the University of Bonn.

Professor Chau's research interests fall under three main areas: international trade, regional economics, and economic development, with particular emphasis on the economics of information and uncertainty. Recent research focuses on index measurement of trade restrictiveness that accounts for second-best argumentation of trade policies, market-based approaches to foster labor and environmental standards via international trade, and the impact of direct farm payments and import barriers on export promotion.

She spent the first half of 2007 at IZA on a research fellowship granted by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation and was appointed an IZA Research Fellow in August 2007.