EDUCATION
Ph.D. in Economics, University of Iowa, May 2007.
M.S. in Mathematics, University of Iowa, July 2007.
M.Phil. in Economics, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, July 2001.
B.S. in Management Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China, July 1999.
EMPLOYMENT
Associate Professor, University of Saskatchewan, Department of Economics, July 2021 - Present.
Assistant Professor, University of Saskatchewan, Department of Economics, July 2015 - June 2021.
Senior Analyst, Bank of Canada, Currency Department, September 2008 - August 2016.
Assistant Professor, San Francisco State University, Department of Economics, August 2007 – August 2008.
Visiting Scholar, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, January 2008, January 2009.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Macroeconomics, Monetary Economics, and Labor Economics.
HONORS and AWARDS
Ballard and Seashore Dissertation Fellowship, Fall 2006 – Summer 2007.
University Fellowship, University of Iowa, Fall 2001 – Spring 2006.
Postgraduate Studentship, HKUST, Fall 1999 – Spring 2001.
PUBLICATIONS
“Miner Competition and Transaction Fees,” with Danusha Rajapaksa, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, forthcoming.
"The Impact of Return on Collateral in a Channel System," with Kwabena Bediako, Economic Inquiry, Vol 58, July 2020.
"The Cash Paradox," with Janet Jiang, Review of Economic Dynamics, Vol 36, April 2020.
“On the Welfare Effects of Credit Arrangements,” with Jonathan Chiu and Mei Dong, International Economic Review, Vol 59, August 2018.
“Wealth Inequality and Employment Fluctuations,” with Pedro Silos, Economic Modelling, Vol 67, December 2017.
“Counterfeit Quality and Verification in a Monetary Exchange,” with Ben Fung, Economic Modelling, Vol 52, January 2016.
“The Threat of Counterfeiting in Competitive Search Equilibrium,” Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Vol 47, October 2014.
“Accounting for the Cyclical Dynamics of Income Shares,” with Pedro Silos, Economic Inquiry, Vol 52, Issue 2, April 2014.
“Entry Costs and Labor Market Dynamics,” with Pedro Silos, European Economic Review, Vol 63, October 2013.
“Modelling the Counterfeiting of Bank Notes: A Literature Review,” with Ben Fung, Bank of Canada Review, Autumn, 2011
“Credit Rationing and Endogenous Monetary Policy,” Applied Economics Letters, Vol 17, Issue 5, 2010.
“Money and Barter under Private Information,” B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics: Contributions, Vol. 9(1), 2009.
WORKING PAPERS
“Deposit Insurance Reforms and Bank Risk-Taking: An International Perspective on Discipline and Moral Hazard,” (with Tarek Jareski Tuma and Abdullah Mamun).
“Deposit Insurance Reforms and Depositor Market Discipline: The Case of US Banking Industry,” (with Tarek Jareski Tuma and Abdullah Mamun).
“On the Relationship between Tether and Other Cryptocurrencies,” (with Danusha Rajapaksa).
“The Economics of Cryptocurrencies in a General Equilibrium Framework.” under review.
“The Entry of Bitcoin Mining and its Welfare Implications,” (with Danusha Rajapaksa).
“The Impact of Uncertainty on Two-Tiered Labor Markets,” under review, (with Shutao Cao and Pedro Silos).
“Search Frictions and Asset Price Volatility,” under review, (with B. Ravikumar).
“China's Pension System Reform: A Dynamic Simulation Model Study,” M.Phil. Thesis.
WORK IN PROGRESS
"Endogenous Labor Markets," (with Pedro Silos).
"Money and Credit with Endogenous Default," (with Russell Wong).
"Cash Paradox and the Saving Demand for Money," (with Janet Jiang).
RESEARCH FUNDING
SSHRC Insight Development Grant, Principal Investigator, C$58,364, 2019-2021.
SSHRC Explore Grant, Principal Investigator, C$7,000, 2019-2021.
New Faculty Graduate Student Support, University of Saskatchewan, Principal Investigator, C$20,000, 2019-2020.
RSAW Support Fund, College of Arts & Science, University of Saskatchewan, Co-Applicant, C$1,000, 2019-2020.
Role Model Speaker Fund, University of Saskatchewan, Principal Investigator, C$500, 2018-2019.
Visiting Lecturer's Fund, University of Saskatchewan, Principal Investigator, C$1,500, 2016-2017.
Faculty Recruitment and Retention Program, University of Saskatchewan, C$29,000, Principal Investigator, 2015 – 2020.
CONFERENCES AND INVITED PRESENTATIONS
2025: 3rd Meeting of the International Society for the Advancement of Financial Economics
2024: Bank of Canada, Society for Economic Measurement, North American Summer Meeting of the Econometric Society, Canadian Economics Association.
2023: Asia-Pacific Search and Matching Workshop, Canadian Economics Association, Bank of Canada
2022: University of Saskatchewan, Bank of Canada, UC Irvine, Crypto Economics Security Conference, DC Summer Workshop, Society for Economic Measurement, Asian Meeting of the Econometric Society, Canadian Economics Association, Economics of Financial Technology Conference.
2021: WEAI Conference, Econometric Society China Meeting, Econometric Society European Meeting, 23rd INFER Annual Conference, Global AI Finance Research Conference.
2019: University of Winnipeg, Nanjing Tech University
2018: WEAI Conference, International Finance and Banking Society Conference
2017: University of Windsor.
2016: 4th ISCEF, Canadian Economics Association, Econometric Society China Meeting.
2015: University of Saskatchewan, Canadian Economics Association, Econometric Society World Congress.
2014: University of Alberta, Iowa Alumni Workshop, University of Hawaii, 3rd ISCEF, Canadian Economics Association.
2013: Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, SAET Conference, North American Summer Meeting of the Econometric Society, SED Annual Meeting.
2012: Chicago Fed Summer Workshop.
2011: LAEF Organization of Markets, SED Annual Meeting, Chicago Fed Summer Workshop, Bank of Canada Annual Conference.
2010: Iowa Alumni Workshop, Midwest Macroeconomics, Canadian Economics Association, Tsinghua Macroeconomics Workshop, Chicago Fed Workshop on Money, Banking, Payments and Finance.
2009: Bank of Canada, Econometric Society North American Summer Meeting, Canadian Economics Association, CEF 2009.
2008: Bank of Canada, San Francisco State University.
2007: CEF 2007, Midwest Macroeconomics, 7th Annual Missouri Economics Conference, Bank of Canada, University of South Carolina, San Francisco State University.
2006: Iowa Alumni Workshop.
TEACHING
Graduate-level:
Econ 874: Advanced Macroeconomics Theory.
Econ 801: Macroeconomic Theory.
Undergraduate-level:
Econ 416: Financial Economics.
Econ 489: Research Projects in Economics II.
Econ 311: Money, Banking, and Capital Markets.
Econ 214: Intermediate Macroeconomics.
Econ 211: Intermediate Microeconomics.
Econ 114: Introductory Macroeconomics.
SUPERVISION AND ADVISORY ACTIVITIES
Graduate Supervision
Tarek Jareski Tuma, PhD in Applied Economics, Co-supervisor, 2023 – present.
Danusha Rajapaksa, PhD in Applied Economics, Supervisor, 2019 – 2025.
Zohreh Sadati, MA in Economics, Supervisor, 2023 – 2025.
Salar Fazli, PhD in Applied Economics, Supervisor, 2021 – present.
Mark Vaughan, MA in Economics, Supervisor, 2022 – 2024.
James Wattam, MA in Economics, Co-supervisor, 2020 (Placement: Department of Finance, Government of Canada).
Kwabena Bediako, MA in Economics, Supervisor, 2016 – 2017 (Placement: PhD at University of Alberta).
Undergraduate Supervision
Gurjosh Brar, BA Honours (Economics), Supervisor, 2018 (Completed)
Co-supervisor, coaching a team of five undergraduate students to compete with 22 Canadian universities at the Governor’s Challenge event hosted by Bank of Canada, the team placed top 5, September 2015 – February 2016
Committee Member
Shahid Shami, PhD in Applied Economics, 2024 – present.
Zixu Liu, MA in Economics, 2024 (Completed).
Matt Irving, MA in Economics, 2024 (Completed).
Sajjad Aghdam, MA in Economics, 2024 (Completed).
Rafa Morales Guzman, PhD in Public Policy, 2023 – present.
Jinsong Yang, MA in Economics, 2023 (Completed).
Ruomei Du, MA in Economics, 2021 (Completed).
Jiao Li, MA in Economics, 2021 (Completed).
Reshad Aghamiri, MA in Economics, 2020 (Completed).
Zhaozhao Ma, MA in Economics, 2020 (Completed).
Shengliang (Eric) Zhu, MA in Economics, 2020 (Completed).
Ruoyu (Catherine) Qian, MA in Economics, 2018 (Completed).
Christopher Tsang, MA in Economics, 2018 (Completed).
Mingshi Kang, MA in Economics, 2016 (Completed).
INVITED COMMENTS
Global News, May 26, 2021.
World Journal, January 23, 2008.
World Journal, March 23, 2008.
REFEREEING
AEJ Macroeconomics.
BE Journal of Macroeconomics*.
Canadian Journal of Economics*.
Economic Modelling*.
European Economic Review.
German Economic Review.
International Economic Review.
International Finance.
International Review of Law and Economics.
Journal of Economics.
Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control*.
Journal of Economics & Management Strategy.
Journal of Economic Theory.
Journal of Macroeconomics.
Journal of Money, Credit and Banking*.
Journal of International Economics.
Macroeconomic Dynamics.
Review of Economic Dynamics.
*: multiple times.
PROFESSIONAL SOCIETIES
Sigma Xi.
American Economics Association.
Econometrics Society.
Canadian Economics Association.