Curriculum vitae
Ph.D. candidate
Vancouver School of Economics
University of British Columbia
FIELDS OF SPECIALIZATION
Public Economics, Urban Economics, Economics of Education
EDUCATION
Ph.D., Economics – Vancouver School of Economics (UBC), in progress
Committee: Kevin Milligan and Marit Rehavi, co-supervisors, and Victor Couture.
M.A., Economics – California State University, Sacramento, 2017
B.A., Film Studies – Columbia College (Columbia University), 2006
RESEARCH ACTIVITY
Work in progress
“School bonds, sorting, and the distribution of school capital: Evidence from California” (job market paper).
“Social insurance non-compliance in China: A synthesis and new results” (with Wei Cui and Jeffrey Hicks).
Publications
“How well-targeted are payroll tax cuts as a response to COVID-19? Evidence from China.” (with Wei Cui and Jeffrey Hicks). International Tax and Public Finance 29(5), 2022.
“Happiness at different ages: The social context matters” (with John F. Helliwell, Haifang Huang and Shun Wang). In The Economics of Happiness, ed. M. Rojas. Springer, 2019.
Working papers
“Well-being analysis favours a virus-elimination strategy for COVID-19” (with John F. Helliwell, Shun Wang, Lara B. Aknin, and Haifang Huang). NBER Working Paper 29092, August 2021.
Contributions to the World Happiness Report
(From 2020 through 2023, I contributed to Chapter 2 of the annual World Happiness Report, co-authoring with John F. Helliwell, Haifang Huang, and Shun Wang.)
“World happiness, trust, and social connections in times of crisis” (also with Len Goff). 2023.
“Happiness, benevolence, and trust during COVID-19 and beyond.” 2022.
“Happiness, trust, and deaths under COVID-19.” 2021.
“Social environments for world happiness.” 2020.
Pre-doctoral
“Managing grapevine trunk diseases in California’s Southern San Joaquin Valley” (with Kendra Baumgartner, Vicken Hillis, Mark Lubell, and Jonathan Kaplan). American Journal of Enology and Viticulture, 70(3), 2019.
RESEARCH ASSISTANTSHIPS
John F. Helliwell, Vancouver School of Economics, UBC, Sept 2017 - present
Wei Cui, Allard School of Law, UBC, Jan 2020 - Dec 2020
Munir Squires, Vancouver School of Economics, UBC, Oct 2019 - Sept 2020
Jonathan Kaplan, CSU Sacramento, 2015 - 2016
TEACHING TRAINING AND EXPERIENCE
Training at the UBC Centre for the Integration of Teaching, Research and Learning
Foundations of Pedagogy, Sept - Nov 2022
Graduate Online Instructional Skills Workshop, Jan - Feb 2021
Teaching assistantships
Economics of Public Expenditures (4th year undergraduate), 2021
Introduction to International Trade (3rd year undergraduate), 2019
Principles of Microeconomics (1st year undergraduate), 2019
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS
Fellowship in Happiness Economics, UBC, 2018-2023
Four-Year Doctoral Fellowship, UBC, 2017-2021
Dean’s Award given to the best graduate student in the College of Social Sciences & Interdisciplinary Studies, CSU Sacramento, 2017
Robert and Chi-Ming Dana Curry Scholarship in Economics, CSU Sacramento, 2016
CONFERENCES AND INVITED MEETINGS
International Institute of Public Finance Annual Congress 2021, scheduled for 2023
NBER Business Taxation in a Federal System Meeting, 2020*, 2021*, 2022*
Urban Economics Association 2022 Summer School*
Southern Economic Association Annual Meeting, 2021
NBER Graduate Student Workshop on Business Income Taxation, 2020*
*Non-presenting invitee
PROFESSIONAL SERVICE
Referee for Journal of Public Economics, European Journal of Health Economics, International Journal of High School Research, International Journal of Wellbeing, International Review of Economics – Journal of Civil Economy
Editorial advisor, Global Happiness and Well-being Policy Report 2022
Graduate Studies Committee Representative, Vancouver School of Economics, 2019-2020
PERSONAL
Citizenship: United States
Languages: English (native), Spanish (advanced)