Menghan Shen

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

Associate Professor, Sun Yatsen University, Guangzhou, China 

Research Fellow, Harvard Kennedy School, Cambridge, MA, US 

Assistant Professor, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan 

EDUCATION

Ph.D. in Economics and Education. Columbia University, New York, NY (2016)

Ed.M. in International Education Policy. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (2011)

B.A. with Double Major in Economics and Mathematics. Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr, PA (2010)

FIELD OF RESEARCH

Economics of Technology and Innovation; Labor Economics; Behavioral Economics; Applied Microeconometrics.

ABOUT ME

I am an applied microeconometrician with a Ph.D. in Economics and Education from Columbia University and an Ed.M. from Harvard. My research focuses on the economics of technology and innovation — specifically, how AI and automation reshape labor markets, how firms adopt new technologies, and how public policy can ease these transitions. I work at the intersection of labor economics, behavioral economics, and innovation economics, using randomized controlled trials, quasi-experimental methods, and large-scale administrative and proprietary datasets.

I have published more than 20 peer-reviewed articles in outlets such as the Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, Economics of Education Review, and Social Science & Medicine, with current work under review at the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Journal of Corporate Finance, and Research Policy. As principal investigator, I have received over ten competitive grants in Japan and China.

My current projects examine occupational exposure to emerging automation technologies and firm-level patterns of AI adoption. On the behavioral side, my work studies how individuals update beliefs and policy preferences when they learn about AI's impact on their occupation, and how information and nudges can accelerate productive adoption.

Earlier work includes field experiments on health insurance take-up among migrant children and on labor market returns to data analytical skills by gender.

I received my Ph.D. from Columbia University, where I was awarded the Committee on the Economics of Education prize. I was a Research Fellow at Harvard Kennedy School.

You can reach me at shenmenghan@gmail.com.

Google Scholar Profile