Chen Lian

About Me

I am an assistant professor in UC Berkeley's Department of Economics. I work on macroeconomics, behavioral economics, and finance. I am visiting Northwestern University for the 2023-24 academic year.

I received my Ph.D. in economics from MIT.  A recent CV is available here. My Google Scholar profile is here.

Contact Information

Email: chen_lian@berkeley.edu

Office: Evans Hall, #675

Working Papers

[UPDATED!] Can Deficits Finance Themselves? (with George-Marios Angeletos and Christian Wolf), revise and resubmit, Econometrica  [Slides] [Online Supplement

 The Economics of Financial Stress (with Dmitriy Sergeyev and Yuriy Gorodnichenko) [Slides] 

[NEW!] Bankruptcy Resolution and Credit Cycles (with Martin Kornejew, Yueran Ma, Pablo Ottonello, and Diego Perez). Prepared for the NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2024

Publications (Chronologically)

Mistakes in Future Consumption, High MPCs Now, December 2023, American Economic Review: Insights [NBER version] [Slides]

Determinacy without the Taylor Principle (with George-Marios Angeletos), August 2023, Journal of Political Economy [Slides

[NEW!] Dampening General Equilibrium: Incomplete Information and Bounded Rationality (with George-Marios Angeletos), January 2023, Handbook of Economic Expectations (This subsumes an older version of Dampening General Equilibrium.) 

Confidence and the Propagation of Demand Shocks (with George-Marios Angeletos), May 2022, Review of Economic Studies [Slides] [Online Appendix]

A Theory of Narrow Thinking, October 2021, Review of Economic Studies (Feature Article) [Online Appendix] [Short Slides]

Anatomy of Corporate Borrowing Constraints (with Yueran Ma), February 2021, Quarterly Journal of Economics [Online Appendix]

Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix

Forward Guidance without Common Knowledge (with George-Marios Angeletos), September 2018, American Economic Review [Online Appendix]

Incomplete Information in Macroeconomics: Accommodating Frictions in Coordination (with George-Marios Angeletos), October 2016, Handbook of Macroeconomics, Volume 2

Papers by Topic

Monetary and Fiscal Policy

Can Deficits Finance Themselves? (with George-Marios Angeletos and Christian Wolf), revise and resubmit, Econometrica  [Slides]

Determinacy without the Taylor Principle (with George-Marios Angeletos), August 2023, Journal of Political Economy [Slides

Confidence and the Propagation of Demand Shocks (with George-Marios Angeletos), May 2022, Review of Economic Studies [Slides] [Online Appendix]

Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix

Forward Guidance without Common Knowledge (with George-Marios Angeletos), September 2018, American Economic Review [Online Appendix]

Macroeconomics: Bounded Rationality and Incomplete Information

Determinacy without the Taylor Principle (with George-Marios Angeletos), August 2023, Journal of Political Economy [Slides

Mistakes in Future Consumption, High MPCs Now, December 2023, American Economic Review: Insights [NBER version] [Slides]

Dampening General Equilibrium: Incomplete Information and Bounded Rationality (with George-Marios Angeletos), January 2023, Handbook of Economic Expectations.

Confidence and the Propagation of Demand Shocks (with George-Marios Angeletos), May 2022, Review of Economic Studies [Slides] [Online Appendix]

Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix

Forward Guidance without Common Knowledge (with George-Marios Angeletos), September 2018, American Economic Review [Online Appendix]

Incomplete Information in Macroeconomics: Accommodating Frictions in Coordination (with George-Marios Angeletos), October 2016, Handbook of Macroeconomics, Volume 2

Macro-Finance

Bankruptcy Resolution and Credit Cycles (with Martin Kornejew, Yueran Ma, Pablo Ottonello, and Diego Perez). Prepared for the NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2024

Anatomy of Corporate Borrowing Constraints (with Yueran Ma), February 2021, Quarterly Journal of Economics [Online Appendix]

The Economics of Financial Stress (with Dmitriy Sergeyev and Yuriy Gorodnichenko) [Slides] 

Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix

Behavioral Economics

A Theory of Narrow Thinking, October 2021, Review of Economic Studies (Feature Article) [Online Appendix] [Short Slides]

Mistakes in Future Consumption, High MPCs Now, December 2023, American Economic Review: Insights [NBER version] [Slides]

The Economics of Financial Stress (with Dmitriy Sergeyev and Yuriy Gorodnichenko) [Slides] 

Dampening General Equilibrium: Incomplete Information and Bounded Rationality (with George-Marios Angeletos), January 2023, Handbook of Economic Expectations.

Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix

Teaching

Spring 2023, Econ 236B, Advanced Macroeconomics II [Syllabus]

Spring 2023, Econ 138, Financial and Behavioral Economics

Spring 2022, NBER Behavioral Macroeconomics Research Boot Camp [Syllabus]

Spring 2022, Econ 138, Financial and Behavioral Economics

Spring 2021, Econ 236D, Behavioral Macroeconomics [Syllabus]