Professor Chang-Tai Hsieh to Lead UChicago’s BFI-China
The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics (BFI) at UChicago is pleased to announce Chang-Tai Hsieh, the Phyllis and Irwin Winkelreid Distinguished Service Professor of Economics-Chicago Booth, as the new director of BFI-China. Hsieh replaces Zhiguo He, BFI-China founding director, formerly at Chicago Booth and now at Stanford.
BFI-China combines the rich intellectual tradition of Chicago Economics with that of Tsinghua University’s School for Economics and Management (Beijing), in a first-of-its-kind partnership to encourage frontier economics research. Founded in 2018, this partnership supports faculty and doctoral student exchanges, as well as regular workshops and forums to share results and discuss areas of mutual interest.
“I am thrilled to welcome Chang-Tai to this important leadership position,” said Erik Hurst, the Frank P. and Marianne R. Diassi Distinguished Service Professor of Economics at Chicago Booth and Director of BFI. “Chang-Tai not only brings keen insight into the complex Chinese economy, but he is also a world-class economist who personifies UChicago’s rich scholarly tradition. I look forward to working with Chang-Tai to achieve his vision for BFI-China.”
Hsieh received his PhD in economics from UC-Berkeley in 1998 and has served on Chicago Booth’s faculty since 2008. His research spans many issues related to growth and development in countries around the world, and he has published widely in prominent journals. Hsieh has been a visiting scholar at Federal Reserve Banks, as well as the World Bank’s Development Economics Group and the Economic Planning Agency in Japan. He is a Research Associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research, a Senior Fellow at the Bureau for Research in Economic Analysis of Development, and a member of the Steering Group of the International Growth Center in London. He is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship, an Elected Member of Academia Sinica, and a two-time recipient of the Sun Ye-Fang Prize.
“I am honored to lead the Becker Friedman Institute’s work in China, on behalf of the UChicago Economics community,” said Hsieh. “China, with its astounding growth over the last three decades and its emerging economic challenges, offers important questions with global implications. I look forward to working with scholars at UChicago, in partnership with Tsinghua, to shed light on the world’s second-largest economy.”
EPIC Adds New Faculty Leadership to India and China Efforts
As EPIC expands the breadth and reach of its efforts in India and China, it is adding new leadership to its regional teams. Harris Public Policy Assistant Professor Fiona Burlig is joining EPIC Director Michael Greenstone as the new deputy faculty director of EPIC-India, while Harris Public Policy Assistant Professor Shaoda Wang joins Greenstone as the new deputy faculty director of EPIC-China. The additional leadership will broaden the scope of research and bring additional capacity to build new projects, programming and partnerships on the ground in two countries central to confronting the global energy challenge.
“China and India are two of the world’s most dynamic and rapidly evolving economies, with economic growth raising living standards for many hundreds of millions of people—a massive success story. But both nations are also home to some of the world’s most complex and far-reaching energy and environmental challenges that requires them to balance the need for inexpensive and reliable energy with local environmental challenges and with avoiding disruptive climate change,” says Greenstone, the Milton Friedman Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. “Fiona and Shaoda’s exceptional intellectual leadership will heighten our ability to deliver new insights critical to understanding and helping to confront the global energy challenge. Their research in India and China has already produced groundbreaking results, and so we’re thrilled to have them on board in a full leadership capacity to build on their work in new and innovative ways.”
Fiona Burlig studies energy and environmental economics, with a focus on the developing world. Her ongoing research examines the impacts of rural electrification in India and the design of developing-country electricity markets. One recent study explores the impact of rural electrification, finding that electrification does not generate benefits in small villages, but has substantial potential in larger villages across India. Another study explores the continued prevalence of blackouts in developing countries like India, showing that the lack of financial trading in the power market contributes to load shedding. Burlig holds a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley and a BA from Williams College.
“India is at the center of the world’s energy challenges, and its power sector plays a critical role,” says Burlig. “I’m really excited to continue finding ways to improve our understanding of electricity markets in India. EPIC-India already has a fantastic team who have formed the strong partnerships vital for understanding the needs and opportunities on the ground; I am looking forward to bringing more UChicago faculty into the fold to build on this work.”
Shaoda Wang’s research centers on understanding the political economy of public policy, particularly in China. In one study, Wang finds that facing political pressures to improve surface water quality, local officials enforce tighter regulations on polluters the central government can track while shirking on their responsibility to reduce pollution coming from firms not tracked. In another study, he discovers that when citizens use social media to point out pollution violations, it forces accountability and leads to reduced pollution—providing the first experimental evidence on bottom-up participation in environmental governance that is common worldwide. Wang holds a BA from Peking University and a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley.
“After observing firsthand China’s significant pollution problems and the government’s heavy-handed response, I became interested in better understanding how policymakers, industry and citizens interacted and how this interaction influences policy,” says Wang. “I’m looking forward to expanding this research interest, including by fostering new faculty projects with my colleagues at Harris, and working to further collaborations inside China to improve our understanding of energy and environmental policy opportunities in the country.”
BFI and Joint Center Announce 2021-22 Visiting Students
The Becker Friedman Institute for Economics China (BFI-China) and the Tsinghua-UChicago Joint Research Center for Economics and Finance are pleased to announce the selection of four visiting students for the 2021-22 academic year.
“We are excited to have these students here with us in Chicago and to benefit from their talent,” said BFI-China Director Zhiguo He, the Fuji Bank and Heller Professor of Finance, Booth School of Business. “The experiences they have gained and the perspectives they bring to research projects here have been invaluable already.”
I-Han Lai, Yiyuan Wang, Shiqi Yang, and Chun Zhao – undergraduate students at Tsinghua University – are working as research professionals in economics at the University of Chicago for the 2021-22 academic year, supporting research led by multiple scholars.
“Our projects are deeply rooted in Chinese society and economy; hence it’s quite challenging but interesting to share China’s unique situation with professors here,” I-Han Lai said. “It is a precious chance to build the bridge in this bicultural environment.”
BFI-China and the Joint Center are proud to facilitate academic and cultural exchange that provides key opportunities for students and crucial support for economics scholars.
“This has been a great chance to immerse myself into a complete research procedure, from data to model, from proposals to publications,” Lai said. “And the experiences with different professors will also be a lifetime treasure.”
The goal of BFI-China’s research support is to deepen economists’ understanding of the Chinese economy and to produce new insights on the most critical policy challenges facing China today.
“Joining BFI-China and the Joint Center in Chicago has given me more exposure to economic research and a clearer understanding of the real economy,” Yiyuan Wang said. “The projects I am currently working on cover many aspects of the Chinese economy, including China’s judicial reform, China’s interbank market, and China’s land development and transactions.”
“Here in Chicago, I can devote myself to research and accumulate research experience,” Wang added. “Rather than just learning the laws of economics in books, getting my hands dirty with data provides me with a deeper understanding of the real economy. I also have learned a lot from participating in the whole process of the initiation, exploration, conduct, and publication of a research project.”
Shaoda Wang on Environmental Regulations in China
Harris Public Policy Assistant Professor Shaoda Wang takes on important questions on the political economy of China’s public policies, with a specific emphasis on environmental actions. He looks at the enforcement of environmental regulations, their effectiveness and economic costs, as well as how citizen participation impacts pollution enforcement.
对抗中国的产业政策会适得其反
对抗中国的产业政策会适得其反
In Memory of Yiran Fan
This weekend, the University of Chicago community was shocked by the tragic, heartbreaking loss of Yiran Fan. A member of the Chicago Economics community for nearly six years, Yiran is remembered as an incredibly talented student, highly respected by his peers, and beloved by all who knew him.
Yiran was a fourth-year PhD student in the Joint Program in Financial Economics with the Booth School of Business and the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics. He previously earned an MS degree from the University’s Financial Math program. He was tragically shot and killed on Saturday, January 9, 2021.
Yiran received his undergraduate degree from Peking University and was active in their alumni association. During his six years in Chicago, he was involved in the Chicago Windmill Theatre Club, a Chinese folk theatre association that contributed to the literary life of the Chicago Chinese community. He is described by his friends as “a philosophy buff and a talented and dedicated theater artist.”
Two faculty members who had the privilege of working with and knowing Yiran, Professors Zhiguo He and Lars Peter Hansen, share their thoughts.
“Yiran had every trait to be a rising star in a few years,” said He. “As an intuitive thinker on deep economic questions, he was recognized as super smart, extremely diligent, and extraordinarily persevering. We just started working on something, and I never thought the journey would end so suddenly like this.” Most importantly, Prof. He noted, “He was a good person and a good friend who cared deeply about others.”
In a personal reflection on the tragedy, Nobel Laureate Lars Peter Hansen noted, “Right from the start, Yiran established himself as a remarkable PhD student. He won the Lee Prize from the economics department for being a top performing student in macroeconomics core curriculum. My colleagues and I have been pleased to have him as teaching assistant. Indeed, he always showed a deep commitment to help his fellow graduate students learn.”
Hansen further remarked, “As many of you know, he has been an invaluable intellectual resource to our economics and finance community. He was well on his way to writing an exceptional dissertation using the tools and insights from corporate finance theory and economic dynamics to study the productive role for the oversight of financial institutions and markets…I often remark that I count our best graduate students as among my very best colleagues on campus. Yiran certainly qualified as a superb colleague as well as wonderful person.”
Yiran’s contributions to the UChicago economics community, both personally and academically, will not soon be forgotten. Together as a community, we mourn this devastating and senseless loss. Our deepest sympathies are with his family during this difficult time.
The University of Chicago set up the website http://yirancondolences.uchicago.edu/ to express condolences, share memories, and upload photos, videos, or other files. English messages will be translated into Chinese, and then presented together to the Fan family. Please submit by EOD on Monday, January 18.
In partnership with the Fan family, The university is establishing a fund in memory of Yiran to support students in the joint program of Chicago Booth and the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics. To contribute, you may call 773-702-7747 or donate online via this link (please select the option “Yiran Fan Memorial Fund for the Joint Program in Financial Economics”). The university will send a letter to the family to acknowledge your gift.