I am an assistant professor in UC Berkeley's Department of Economics. I work on macroeconomics, behavioral economics, and finance. Please see my research statement (June 2026) for a summary.
I received my Ph.D. in economics from MIT. A recent CV is available here. My Google Scholar profile is here.
Email: chen_lian@berkeley.edu
Office: Evans Hall, #675
[NEW] Importing Aggregate Demand (with Dmitry Mukhin and Christian Wolf)
[NEW] Sophisticated Borrowing Constraints and Macroeconomic Dynamics (with Mahdi Ebsim, Yueran Ma, Pablo Ottonello, and Diego Perez)
[NEW] Fiscal Inaction as Monetary Support (with George-Marios Angeletos and Christian Wolf). R&R at Econometrica
[NEW] Borrowing Constraints, Markups, and Misallocation (with Huiyu Li, Yueran Ma and Emily Martell)
[UPDATE] Deficits and Inflation: HANK meets FTPL (with George-Marios Angeletos and Christian Wolf)
[FINAL] Beliefs about the Economy are Excessively Sensitive to Household-level Shocks: Evidence from Linked Survey and Administrative Data (with Dmitry Taubinsky, Luigi Butera and Matteo Saccarola). Forthcoming, Quarterly Journal of Economics
[FINAL] Why do Workers Dislike Inflation? Wage Erosion and Conflict Costs (with Joao Guerreiro, Jonathon Hazell and Christina Patterson). [Supplementary Appendix] Forthcoming, Econometrica
The Economics of Financial Stress (with Dmitriy Sergeyev and Yuriy Gorodnichenko). October 2025, Review of Economic Studies [Slides]
[NEW] Bankruptcy Resolution and Credit Cycles (with Martin Kornejew, Yueran Ma, Pablo Ottonello, and Diego Perez). NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2024 [Slides]
Can Deficits Finance Themselves? (with George-Marios Angeletos and Christian Wolf). September 2024, Econometrica [Slides] [Additional Materials]
Mistakes in Future Consumption, High MPCs Now. December 2023, American Economic Review: Insights [NBER version] [Slides]
Determinacy without the Taylor Principle (with George-Marios Angeletos). August 2023, Journal of Political Economy [Slides]
[SURVEY] Dampening General Equilibrium: Incomplete Information and Bounded Rationality (with George-Marios Angeletos). January 2023, Handbook of Economic Expectations (This subsumes an older version of Dampening General Equilibrium.)
Confidence and the Propagation of Demand Shocks (with George-Marios Angeletos). May 2022, Review of Economic Studies [Slides] [Online Appendix]
A Theory of Narrow Thinking. October 2021, Review of Economic Studies (Feature Article) [Online Appendix] [Short Slides]
Anatomy of Corporate Borrowing Constraints (with Yueran Ma). February 2021, Quarterly Journal of Economics [Online Appendix]
Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang). June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix]
Forward Guidance without Common Knowledge (with George-Marios Angeletos). September 2018, American Economic Review [Online Appendix]
Incomplete Information in Macroeconomics: Accommodating Frictions in Coordination (with George-Marios Angeletos). October 2016, Handbook of Macroeconomics, Volume 2
Sophisticated Borrowing Constraints and Macroeconomic Dynamics (with Mahdi Ebsim, Yueran Ma, Pablo Ottonello, and Diego Perez)
Fiscal Inaction as Monetary Support (with George-Marios Angeletos and Christian Wolf) R&R at Econometrica
Deficits and Inflation: HANK meets FTPL (with George-Marios Angeletos and Christian Wolf)
Why do Workers Dislike Inflation? Wage Erosion and Conflict Costs (with Joao Guerreiro, Jonathon Hazell and Christina Patterson). [Slides] Forthcoming, Econometrica
Can Deficits Finance Themselves? (with George-Marios Angeletos and Christian Wolf). September 2024, Econometrica [Slides] [Additional Materials]
Determinacy without the Taylor Principle (with George-Marios Angeletos), August 2023, Journal of Political Economy [Slides]
Confidence and the Propagation of Demand Shocks (with George-Marios Angeletos), May 2022, Review of Economic Studies [Slides] [Online Appendix]
Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix]
Forward Guidance without Common Knowledge (with George-Marios Angeletos), September 2018, American Economic Review [Online Appendix]
Beliefs about the Economy are Excessively Sensitive to Household-level Shocks: Evidence from Linked Survey and Administrative Data (with Dmitry Taubinsky, Luigi Butera and Matteo Saccarola). Forthcoming, Quarterly Journal of Economics
The Economics of Financial Stress (with Dmitriy Sergeyev and Yuriy Gorodnichenko) [Slides], October 2025, Review of Economic Studies
Mistakes in Future Consumption, High MPCs Now, December 2023, American Economic Review: Insights [NBER version] [Slides]
Determinacy without the Taylor Principle (with George-Marios Angeletos), August 2023, Journal of Political Economy [Slides]
Dampening General Equilibrium: Incomplete Information and Bounded Rationality (with George-Marios Angeletos), January 2023, Handbook of Economic Expectations.
Confidence and the Propagation of Demand Shocks (with George-Marios Angeletos), May 2022, Review of Economic Studies [Slides] [Online Appendix]
Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix]
Forward Guidance without Common Knowledge (with George-Marios Angeletos), September 2018, American Economic Review [Online Appendix]
Incomplete Information in Macroeconomics: Accommodating Frictions in Coordination (with George-Marios Angeletos), October 2016, Handbook of Macroeconomics, Volume 2
Sophisticated Borrowing Constraints and Macroeconomic Dynamics (with Mahdi Ebsim, Yueran Ma, Pablo Ottonello, and Diego Perez)
Borrowing Constraints, Markups, and Misallocation (with Huiyu Li, Yueran Ma and Emily Martell)
Bankruptcy Resolution and Credit Cycles (with Martin Kornejew, Yueran Ma, Pablo Ottonello, and Diego Perez). NBER Macroeconomics Annual 2024
The Economics of Financial Stress (with Dmitriy Sergeyev and Yuriy Gorodnichenko). October 2025, Review of Economic Studies [Slides]
Anatomy of Corporate Borrowing Constraints (with Yueran Ma), February 2021, Quarterly Journal of Economics [Online Appendix]
Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix]
Beliefs about the Economy are Excessively Sensitive to Household-level Shocks: Evidence from Linked Survey and Administrative Data (with Dmitry Taubinsky, Luigi Butera and Matteo Saccarola). Forthcoming, Quarterly Journal of Economics
The Economics of Financial Stress (with Dmitriy Sergeyev and Yuriy Gorodnichenko). October 2025. Review of Economic Studies [Slides]
Mistakes in Future Consumption, High MPCs Now, December 2023, American Economic Review: Insights [NBER version] [Slides]
Dampening General Equilibrium: Incomplete Information and Bounded Rationality (with George-Marios Angeletos), January 2023, Handbook of Economic Expectations
A Theory of Narrow Thinking, October 2021, Review of Economic Studies (Feature Article) [Online Appendix] [Short Slides]
Low Interest Rates and Risk Taking: Evidence from Individual Investment Decisions (with Yueran Ma and Carmen Wang), June 2019, Review of Financial Studies (Lead Article) [Survey Appendix]
Spring 2026, Econ 236B, Advanced Macroeconomics II [Syllabus]
Spring 2026, Econ 138, Financial and Behavioral Economics
Spring 2025, Econ 236B, Advanced Macroeconomics II
Spring 2025, Econ 138, Financial and Behavioral Economics
Spring 2024, NBER Behavioral Macroeconomics Research Boot Camp [Syllabus]
Spring 2023, Econ 236B, Advanced Macroeconomics II
Spring 2023, Econ 138, Financial and Behavioral Economics
Spring 2022, NBER Behavioral Macroeconomics Research Boot Camp
Spring 2022, Econ 138, Financial and Behavioral Economics
Spring 2021, Econ 236D, Behavioral Macroeconomics [Syllabus]