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I am Yilan Xu, an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. My research is guided by a simple but consequential question: why do localized climate, health, and disaster shocks so often become systemic crises, and why do they disproportionately harm vulnerable populations? Modern societies are deeply interconnected through social networks, mobility systems, trade linkages, and information ecosystems. In such environments, risk rarely remains local. Instead, it propagates through networks, shaping not only economic outcomes but also beliefs, behaviors, and access to protection.

I have developed a socio-spatial network perspective to understand how risks, information, and adaptive responses spread through interconnected systems and how policy can intervene more effectively and equitably. A central theme of my work is that inequality in outcomes often arises not from differences in exposure, but from unequal access to risk information and protective responses—a fundamentally structural, network-mediated phenomenon. From a consumer perspective, these network structures shape who can anticipate risk, secure insurance or credit, and avoid costly adjustments—core dimensions of consumer well-being under climate and health uncertainty.

My research combines substantive policy relevance with methodological innovation. I build empirical frameworks that allow us to move beyond correlations and toward causal, system-level understanding of how shocks propagate and how interventions can be designed to enhance resilience while reducing inequality.

CV, Google Scholar, ORCID. 

Emails: yilanxu@illinois.edu      Phone: 217-300-0465

Address: 309 Mumford Hall, 1301 W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801-3605