Lily L. Tsai is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Tsai’s research focuses on accountability, governance, and political participation and draws on more than 25 years of conducting fieldwork in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. Her book, Accountability Without Democracy: Solidary Groups and Public Goods Provision in Rural China, was published in Cambridge University's Studies on Comparative Politics, and she will shortly release a book on anticorruption, retributive justice, and the puzzle of authoritarian popularity.

Tsai is also the founder and Faculty Director of the MIT Governance Lab (MIT GOV/LAB), a group of political scientists who bridge researcher and practitioner communities by developing learning collaborations that develop and test innovations in citizen engagement and government responsiveness.