I am a professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University, where I have worked since 2007. Before joining Hopkins, I was an assistant professor of economics at the University of Texas at Austin for four years. I am a Hopkins alumnus with an MSE in mathematical science and an MA in economics in 2001, and a PhD in economics in 2003. I have also studied at Michigan State University, Fudan University in Shanghai, and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

My research interests include micro-econometrics, empirical industrial organization, and labor economics. In micro-econometrics, my research has focused on the nonparametric identification and estimation of measurement error models, mixture models, panel data model with fixed effects or unobserved covariates, and, generally, microeconomic models with latent variables. I am particularly interested in application-oriented econometrics, where the econometric methods are closely integrated with the economic theory or story. In empirical industrial organization, I work on unobserved heterogeneity in auction models, dynamic models with unobserved state variables, belief updating in learning models, estimation of production functions, and dynamic discrete choice with subjective belief. In labor economics, my research has concerned the US unemployment rates after correcting the self-reporting errors in the Current Population Survey, reliable estimates of China’s unemployment rates in a long period, and the impact of hurricanes on the fertility on the east coast of the United States.

I have published in many leading journals in economics and statistics, such as American Economic Review, Econometrica, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Journal of Econometrics, Games and Economic Behavior, Journal of Population Economics, and Journal of Comparative Economics.  I am a Fellow of the Journal of Econometrics and have served on the editorial boards of several journals. I was also a co-editor of a Journal of Econometrics special issue on measurement errors.

I have been married to Wei Wang for many years with three young kids. From their point of view, I am a teacher who doesn’t do anything.

Selected publications

Micro-econometrics:

A simple test of completeness in a class of nonparametric specification (with Ji-Liang Shiu), Econometric Review, forthcoming.

Identification of nonparametric monotonic regression models with continuous nonclassical measurement errors (with Susanne Schennach and Ji-Liang Shiu), Journal of Econometrics, forthcoming.

Dynamic decisions under subjective expectations: A structural analysis (with Yonghong An and Ruli Xiao), Journal of Econometrics, Volume 222, Issue 1, Part C, (May 2021), Pages 645-675.

Global estimation of finite mixture and misclassification models with an application to multiple equilibria, (with Ruli Xiao), Econometric Review, Volume 40, Issue 5, (April 2021), pages 455-469.

The econometrics of unobservables: Applications of measurement error models in empirical industrial organization and labor economics, Journal of Econometrics, Volume 200, Issue 2, (October 2017), pages 154-168

Nonparametric identification and semiparametric estimation of classical measurement error models without side information (with Susanne Schennach), Journal of the American Statistical Association, vol. 108, issue 501 (March 2013), pages 177-186.

Nonparametric identification of dynamic models with unobserved state variables (with Matthew Shum), Journal of Econometrics, vol. 171, issue 1 (November 2012), pages 32-44.

Estimation of nonlinear models with mismeasured regressors using marginal information (with Geert Ridder), Journal of Applied Econometrics, vol. 27, issue 3 (2012), pages 347-385.

Identification and inference in nonlinear models using two samples with nonclassical measurement errors (with Raymond Carroll and Xiaohong Chen), Journal of Nonparametric Statistics, 22 (2010), issue 4, pages 379-399. (Journal of Nonparametric Statistics 2010 Best Paper Award)

Instrumental variable treatment of nonclassical measurement error models (with Susanne Schennach), Econometrica, vol. 76, no. 1 (2008), pages 195–216.

Identification and estimation of nonlinear models with misclassification error using instrumental variables: A general solution, Journal of Econometrics, vol. 144 (2008), issue 1, pages 27-61.

Empirical Industrial Organization:

Identification and estimation of online price competition with an unknown number of firms (with Yonghong An and Michael Baye, John Morgan and Matthew Shum), Journal of Applied Econometrics, Volume 32, Issue 1, (January 2017), pages 80-102

Nonparametric learning rules from bandit experiments: the eyes have it! (with Yutaka Kayaba and Matthew Shum). Games and Economic Behavior, vol. 81, (September 2013), pages 215-231

Nonparametric identification of first-price auctions with non-separable unobserved heterogeneity (with David McAdams and Matthew Shum). Journal of Econometrics, vol. 174, issue 2 (June 2013), pages 186-193.

Estimating first-price auctions with an unknown number of bidders: a misclassification approach (with Yonghong An and Matthew Shum), Journal of Econometrics, vol. 157 (2010), pages 328-341.

Labor Economics:

Misclassification errors in labor force statuses and the early identification of economic recessions (with Jiandong Sun and Shuaizhang Feng), Journal of Asian Economics, Volume 75, 2021

Semiparametric estimation of the canonical permanent-transitory model of earnings dynamics, (with Robert Moffitt and YuyaSasaki), Quantitative Economics, Volume 10, Issue 4 (November 2019); STATA Command by Yuya Sasaki

Long run trends in unemployment and labor force participation in China (with Shuaizhang Feng and Robert Moffitt), Journal of Comparative Economics, vol 45(2), (2017) pages 304-324.

Misclassification errors and the underestimation of U.S. unemployment rates (with Shuaizhang Feng), American Economic Review, vol. 103, issue 2 (April 2013), pages 1054-70.

The fertility effect of catastrophe: U.S. hurricane births, (with Rick Evans and Zhong Zhao), Journal of Population Economics, vol. 23 (2010), issue 1, pages 1-36. (the 2013 Kuznets Prize for the best published article in the Journal of Population Economics during the period 2010-2012)

180.334 (Undergraduate Econometrics) 180.354 (Econometrics of Unobservables) 180.434 (Undergraduate Advanced Econometrics) 180.633 (Graduate Econometrics) 180.638 (Graduate Micro-econometrics II)