Ph.D., Economics, University of California, Santa Cruz, 2014 M.S., Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, 2008 B.A., Economics, Peking University, 2007
Recent Publications
“Rare Homicides, Criminal Behavior, and the Returns to Police Labor,” with Nicholas Lovett. Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2021.
“Family First or the Kindness of Strangers? Foster Care Placements and Adult Outcomes,” with Nicholas Lovett. Labour Economics, 2020.
“Has the Affordable Care Act Affected Health Care Efficiency?” with Russ Kashian and Nicholas Lovett. Journal of Regulatory Economics, 2020.
"Income Uncertainty, Consumer Durables Investments and Home Production: Evidence from China,'' with Yabin Wang. Contemporary Economic Policy, 2019.
I am an Assistant Professor in the Department of Economics at the College of Business and Economics, University of Wisconsin - Whitewater. I hold a PhD Degree in Economics from University of California, Santa Cruz. The focus of my research is in the areas of applied microeconomics, health economics and policy analysis.
Prosecutorial decisions and crime reduction: A data-driven approach.
On Income, Education, and Health: A Natural Experiment
Do Greater Sanctions Deter Youth Crime? Evidence from a Regression Discontinuity Design
Nicholas Lovett
We exploit the discontinuous jump in criminal sanctions at the age of majority in conjunction with administrative data from California to generate regression discontinuity estimates of the deterrent effect. Estimates show that the greater severity imposed...
Family First or the Kindness of Strangers? Foster Care Placements and Adult Outcomes
Nicholas Lovett
Foster care youth are a large population that have reliably been shown to be at high risk of poor adult outcomes that are costly to both former foster youth and the public. We evaluate the effects of placing foster children with extended family, rather th...
Has the Affordable Act Affected Healthcare Efficiency?
Russ Kashian, Nicholas Lovett
We utilize health care input and output data to evaluate how state-level efficiency in health
care has changed in the wake of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). We use a Stochastic Frontier
model to estimate annual measures of technical and cost efficiency be...
This paper investigates EBT card reforms in California’s food stamp program, and the impact on food insecurity. We test the hypothesis that EBT cards reduce food insecurity by reducing the food costs associated with loss and theft of benefits, as well as ...
Income Uncertainty, Consumer Durables Investments and Home Production: Evidence from China
Yabin Wang
We study consumer durables investment under income uncertainty in a home production framework. A model of lumpy home capital adjustment shows that higher income uncertainty makes households more cautious in undertaking investments. We test this prediction...
Health Returns to Modern Heating: Evidence from China
In this paper I analyze the health effects of China’s centralized home heating infrastructure. The primary health mechanism is that recipients of centralized heating do not need to use traditional fuels to heat their homes, and thus suffer from less expos...
Health Returns to Modern Heating: Evidence from China
In this paper I analyze the health effects of China’s centralized home heating infrastructure. The primary health mechanism is that recipients of centralized heating do not need to use traditional fuels to heat their homes, and thus suffer from less expos...
Policing and Crime: Dynamic Panel Evidence from California
Oxford Economic Papers
Journal Article, Academic Journal
July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2023
Rare Homicides, Criminal Behavior, and the Returns to Police Labor
Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 194 Pg. 172-195
February 2022
The Role of Specific Heritage Among Hispanic-Owned Banks in America
Managerial Finance
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 47 Iss. 5 Pg. 656-669
April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2021
Has the Affordable Care Act Affected Healthcare Efficiency?
Journal of Regulatory Economics
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 58 Iss. 2-3 Pg. 193–233
October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2020
Family First or the Kindness of Strangers? Foster Care Placements and Adult Outcomes
Labour Economics
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 65 Pg. 101840
August 2020
A Cost Efficiency Analysis of Local Commercial Banks in Taiwan
Asian Economic Journal
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 33 Iss. 1 Pg. 87–108
April (2nd Quarter/Spring) 2019
Ownership characteristics of Asian American banks
Journal of Economics and Finance
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 43 Iss. 3 Pg. 528–551
November 2018
Have Electronic Benefits Cards Improved Food Access for Food Stamp Recipients?
Journal of Economic Studies
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Vol. 44 Iss. 6
October (4th Quarter/Autumn) 2017
Income Uncertainty, Consumer Durables Investments and Home Production: Evidence from China
Contemporary Economic Policy
Journal Article, Academic Journal
July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2017
Health Returns to Modern Heating: Evidence from China
Applied Economics
Journal Article, Academic Journal
Pg. 15
July (3rd Quarter/Summer) 2017
COOKIE NOTICE
We use cookies on this site. By continuing to browse without changing your browser settings to block or delete cookies you agree to the UW-Whitewater Privacy Notice.