Yoon-Jae Whang is a SNU Distinguished Professor of Economics at the Department of Economics in Seoul National University. He holds B.A. and M.A. degrees in economics from Seoul National University and earned his Ph.D. in economics from Yale University in 1991. He has held previous positions at the University of Toronto, Ewha Womans University, and Korea University. His main research interests are in econometric theory, financial econometrics and applied econometrics. His current research topics include nonparametric and semiparametric methods in econometrics and economic applications of machine learning and artificial intelligence.
His research has been recognized via support from the SNU Creative Leading Researcher Fellowship, the Dasan Economics Prize, the Maekyung Economist Award, and the Chung-Ram Academic Award.
He is a fellow of the Econometric Society (since 2010), the Journal of Econometrics (since 2012), the International Association for Applied Econometrics (since 2018), and a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Korea (since 2025). He was previously the President of the Korean Economic Association, the President of the Korean Econometric Society, the Director of the Institute of Economic Research in Seoul National University, the Editor of Korean Economic Review, and an Associate Editor of Journal of Econometrics. He is currently the Director of the Center for Econometrics in Seoul National University, a Co-Editor of Econometric Theory, an Associate Editor of Econometric Reviews, and a Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee of the 2025 World Congress of the Econometric Society