• Associate Professor, Department of Economics, Virginia Tech

• Affiliated Faculty, The Kellogg Center for Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, Virginia Tech

• Co-editor, Contemporary Economic Policy

Address: Dept. of Economics, Virginia Tech, Pamplin Hall (0316), Blacksburg, VA 24061    

Phone: (540) 231-5942 (Office)      Email: byront at vt.edu CV Google Scholar Profile

Working Papers

• "Agree to Disagree: Measuring Hidden Dissents in FOMC Meetings" (with Zichao Yang), March 2024, under review.

• "Quantifying Racial Prejudices with Housing Transaction Data" (with Tin Cheuk Leung and Xiaojin Sun), March 2024, under review..

• "Letting Old Data Speak: Local Cultural Traits in Qing China Grain Prices" (with T. Terry Cheung and Shaowen Luo), September 2023, under review..

Publications

• "The Rise of the 'Invisible Hand' Metaphor", accepted by History of Economic Ideas.

• "Which Unit Root Tests Are Better for Univariate Time Series Forecasts?" (with Adam Check and Ming Lo), accepted by Economics Bulletin.

• "Greenfield Foreign Direct Investment: Social Learning drives Persistence" (with Joe C.Y. Ng, Chao Hung Chan, and Charles K.Y. Leung), Journal of International Money and Finance, 2022, vol. 126, 102641.

• "Inclusions and Exclusions of Stocks in Cross-Border Investments: The Case of Stock Connect" (with Kin Ming Wong), 2022, Asia-Pacific Financial Markets.

• "Yield Curve and the Macroeconomy: Evidence from a DSGE Model with Housing" (with Xiaojin Sun), Journal of Macroeconomics, 2022, vol.75, 103484.

• "Do Connections Pay Off in the Bitcoin Market?" (with Zichao Yang), Journal of Empirical Finance, 2022, vol. 67, 1-18.

• "The Market for Bitcoin Transactions" (with Zichao Yang), Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions & Money, 2021, vol. 71, 101282.

• "Collusion in Private Procurement: How Does Mandatory Building Repair Increase Renovation Prices?" (with Tin Cheuk Leung and Kevin K. Tsui), Singapore Economic Review, 2022, vol. 67, no. 05, 1759-1779.

• ''Why Are Inferior Seats 'Underpriced'? Evidence from the English Premier League'' (with Tin Cheuk Leung and Kevin K. Tsui), Man and the Economy, 2021, 7(1), 20200007.

• "Price Dispersion in Bitcoin Exchanges" (with Zichao Yang), Economics Letters, 2020, vol. 194 Article 109379. 

• "Elasticity of Attention and Optimal Monetary Policy" (with Shaowen Luo), Economics Letters, 2020, vol. 194 Article 109393.  Online Appendix 

•  "China and World Output Impact of the Hubei Lockdown During the Coronavirus Outbreak" (with Shaowen Luo), Contemporary Economic Policy, 2020, 38(4), 583-592.

• "A New Look at Historical Monetary Policy (and the Great Inflation) Through the Lens of a Persistence-Dependent Policy Rule" (with Richard Ashley and Randal J. Verbrugge), Oxford Economic Papers, 2020, 72(3), 672–691.

• "Forecasting Exchange Rates with Generalized Principal Components" (with Karo Solat), International Journal of Forecasting, 2020, vol. 37(3), 1085-1091.

• "Large Price Movements in Housing Markets" (with Xiaojin Sun),  Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 2019, vol. 163, 1-23.

• "What Can Regulators Deregulate? The Caseof Electricity" (with Tin Cheuk Leung and Kevin K. Tsui), Journal of Regulatory Economics, 2019, vol. 56(1), 1-32.

• "The Impact of Monetary Policy on Local Housing Markets: Do Regulations Matter?" (with Xiaojin Sun), Empirical Economics, 2018, 54(3), 989-1015.

• "What Cycles? Data Detrending in DSGE Models" (with Xiaojin Sun), Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, 2018, vol. 23, Issue 3.

• "What Drives the Owner-Occupied and Rental Housing Markets?  Evidence from an Estimated DSGE Model" (with Xiaojin Sun),  Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 2017, 49(2-3), 443-468.

• "Does the Right to Choose Matter for Defined Contribution Plans?" (with Kin Ming Wong),  Contemporary Economic Policy, 2017, 35(2), 278-291.

• "Tax-driven Bunching of Housing Market Transactions: the Case of Hong Kong" (with Charles K.Y. Leung and Tin Cheuk Leung),  International Real Estate Review, 2015, 18(4), 473-501. 

• "Optimal Interest Rate Rule in a DSGE Model with Housing Market Spillovers" (with Xiaojin Sun), Economics Letters, 2014, 125(1), 47-51.

• "Recursive Preferences, Learning and Large Deviations" (with Chetan Dave), Economics Letters, 2014, 124 (3), 329-334.

• "Credible Granger-Causality Inference with Modest Sample Lengths: A Cross-Sample Validation Approach" (with Richard Ashley), Econometrics, 2014, 2(1), 72-91.

• "Anchoring and Loss Aversion in the Housing Market: Implications on Price Dynamics?" (with Tin Cheuk Leung), China Economic Review, 2013, 24, 42-54.

• "Can Anchoring and Loss Aversion Explain the Predictability in the Housing Market?" (with Tin Cheuk Leung), Pacific Economic Review, 2013, 18(1), 41-49.   

• "Love Thy Neighbor: Income Distribution and Housing Preferences" (with Tin Cheuk Leung), Journal of Housing Economics, 2013, 21(4), 322-335.

• "What Does the Yield Curve Tell Us About Exchange Rate Predictability?" (with Yuchin Chen), Review of Economics and Statistics, 2013, 95(1), 185–205. Online Appendix 

• "Non-Exponential Discounting: A Direct Test and Perhaps a New Puzzle" (with Richard Startz), B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics (Topics), 2012, 12(1).

• "An Unobserved Components Model of the Yield Curve" (with Richard Startz), Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, 2010, 42(8), 1613-1640.

• "Seigniorage as a Source for a Basic Income Guarantee" (with Nicholas Tideman), Basic Income Studies, 2010, 5(2), Article 6.

• "Decision-making by Children" (with Shelly Lundberg and Jennifer L. Romich), Review of Economics of the Household, 2009, 7(1), 1-30.

• "Independence Giving or Autonomy Taking? Childhood Predictors of Decision-Sharing Patterns Between Young Adolescents and Parents" (with Shelly Lundberg and Jennifer L. Romich), Journal of Research on Adolescence, 2009, 19(4), 587-600.  

Other Writings

• “Touching the Elephant,” (A book review of China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption, by Yuen Yuen Ang (Cambridge University Press, 2020) at Econlib, April 2023.

• “Some Unpleasant Thoughts: Refugees and Wealth,” (A book review of The Wealth of Refugees: How Displaced People Can Build Economies by Alexander Betts (Oxford University Press, 2021) at Econlib, December 2022.

• "Is the 1755 Smith a Prequel of the 1776 Smith?" at Adam Smith Works (Liberty Fund).

• "The Double Life of Adam Smith" at Adam Smith Works (Liberty Fund).

• "Three Ways of Looking at the Water-Diamond 'Paradox'" at Adam Smith Works (Liberty Fund).

• "How Smithian was Sima Qian?"  at Adam Smith Works (Liberty Fund).

• "Adam Smith's “Political Economy”: from Poison to Science"  at Adam Smith Works (Liberty Fund).

Info for Graduate Students 

Info for Undergraduate Students: (I will provide a letter of recommendation only if you got an A minus or above in my class)

My former Ph.D. advisees and their initial job placements:

• Zichao Yang, Associate Professor, Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, China (2021)

• Yao "Hillary" Huang, Senior Analyst, PNC Bank, Pittsburgh, PA (2020)

• Xiaojin ‘Aaron’ Sun, Asst. Professor at the Department of Economics and Finance, University of Texas, El Paso (2015)

• Atanu Rakshit, Asst. Professor at the Graduate School of Business, Nazarbayev University, Astana (2013)

• Shaojuan Liao, VP, Advanced Analytical Consultant at Wells Fargo (2012)