Research

Working Papers

• Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism and Trade Policy: A Quantitative Analysis (Job Market Paper, New draft coming soon)
  with Haichao Fan, Yuan Mei, and Huanhuan Wang
  Abstract

  We assess the environmental and economic impacts of the European Union’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). We develop a multi-country, multi-sector general equilibrium model that incorporates input–output linkages, carbon supply chains, and global emission externalities. Our results show that unilateral CBAM modestly reduces global emissions due to indirect carbon leakage through energy markets, while broader sectoral coverage weakens effectiveness by further diluting industrial reallocation incentives. Global welfare improves marginally when environmental benefits are accounted for. Strategic carbon policy adjustments under a non-cooperative Nash equilibrium enhance effectiveness by mitigating both free riding and indirect leakage. Multilateral decarbonization negotiations yield substantial gains, with CBAM functioning as a powerful enforcement device that raises the cost of disagreement and fosters deeper global climate cooperation.

  
  

• Tariffs as Bargaining Chips: A Quantitative Analysis of US-China Trade War (Revise and Resubmit at American Economic Journal: Microeconomics)
  with Naiyuan Hu and Yuan Mei
  Abstract

  Non-cooperative tariffs change outside options and thus affect welfare outcomes in potential tariff negotiations. We focus on the U.S.–China trade war from 2018 through 2019 and examine whether such tariffs can serve as leverage to improve U.S. post-negotiation welfare. With a multi-country, multi-sector quantitative trade model, we simulate negotiations from two starting points: the 2017 baseline and the 2019 trade-war equilibrium. Our results show that, across reasonable estimates of U.S. bargaining power, imposing trade-war tariffs before the negotiations consistently enhances U.S. post-negotiation welfare.

  
  

• Investing in a Mobile Asset: Higher Education, Graduate Mobility, and Underinvestment (New draft coming soon)
  with Naiyuan Hu, Lin Ma, and Ben Zou
  Abstract

  Higher education produces a mobile asset—skilled graduates—who may leave the jurisdiction where they were trained, making education a “leaky” investment for local governments. We develop a dynamic spatial life-cycle general equilibrium model in which individuals endogenously choose education and migration, while local governments allocate budgets and set admission policies. Quantified to the context of China, the model shows that the observed college expansion path reflects substantial underinvestment relative to a central planner benchmark, leaving large efficiency and equality gains unrealized. Underinvestment persists in a decentralized, locally funded Nash equilibrium, as provinces strategically free ride on inflows of graduates educated elsewhere and hold back their own investment, leading to national inefficiency. Optimal place-based strategies depend on development stage: advanced regions benefit from front-loaded education investment, whereas lagging provinces optimally delay investment until productivity and retention conditions improve.

  
  

Selected Work in Progress

• Love Panda, Love China: The Panda Effect on International Trade, with Pao-Li Chang, Wei Jin, Dingfan Kang, and Angdi Lu

• Relaxation of Internal Migration Restrictions and Labor Market Sorting, with Yutao Wang
  

Publications

• Climate Change, Trade Cost, and Economic Growth: A Quantitative Estimation Based on International Shipping Data, with Huanhuan Wang and Ce Guo, Journal of Management World(管理世界), 2025
  

Research Experience

• Research Assistant to Prof. Lin Ma, Singapore Management University, 2024
• Research Assistant to Prof. Christine Ho, Singapore Management University, 2023
• Research Assistant to Prof. Pao-Li Chang, Singapore Management University, 2023-2025
• Research Assistant to Prof. Yuan Mei, Singapore Management University, 2022-2024