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Hi there!
I am a PhD Student at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a Research Scholar at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
I work on questions related to climate adaptation, energy transition, and economics of organisations.
From September 2022 to August 2023, I was a Research Economist at the IFS.
You can reach me at w.zou2@lse.ac.uk
Publications
Is a UK Government commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals good for the economy and business in general? (with Brooklyn Han, Sally Yang, and Patrick Leitloff) pdf
Brown University Journal of Philosophy, Politics, and Economics, 2022, vol. 3 Issue2
2020 UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) Renaissance Prize
Working Papers
Police Organisation and Police Performance (with Elisa Facchetti and Arianna Ornaghi) [draft available upon request]
Awarded EIEF Research Grant (2024)
Presentations: 2025 Bocconi Firm Behaviour in Rough Environment Workshop, 2025 Bank of Italy EPSI Conference
The Lifecycle of Judicial Bias (with Omry Yoresh) [Submitted]
Abstract: How does judicial bias arise and persist in the legal system? We trace the lifecycle of judicial bias in India's criminal courts, leveraging the quasi-random assignment of judges to courts and cases. We first document substantial variation in bias: within the same court, assigning a same-religion defendant from a judge at the 25th to 75th percentile of bias increases acquittal probability by 7.5 percentage points, 45% of the mean acquittal rate. We then examine how different triggers across a judge's professional career affect their bias. Exposure to Hindu-Muslim communal riots during a judge's first five years of service leads them to increase same-religion acquittal rates by 17.5%. Yet, judges who work alongside colleagues from different religions during this critical period show no such effect. Next, social interactions between judges reinforce judicial bias. On-the-job exposure to biased colleagues leads judges to increase same-religion acquittal rates by 3.2 percentage points, with effects that persist for over a year. These findings suggest that judicial bias is neither innate nor inevitable, but rather shaped by experiences and relationships, and that thoughtful institutional design can prevent and mitigate discriminatory practices across various professions.
Presentations: Charles University 2025, Freiburg PhD-Workshop on the Economics of Criminal Behavior 2025
Hungry Clouds: Environmental Externalities of Data-Intensive Development
Funding: Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) Exploratory Research Grant
Abstract: Global electricity demand from data centers is set to more than double in the next five years, yet their local economic and environmental externalities remain poorly understood. This project aims to examine the aggregate and distributional effects of policies that influence data center location decisions. In Brazil and the US, I track facility entry, operating costs, and local economic outcomes to study: (1) what drives data center location choice; (2) what are their local economic impacts; (3) which policies can effectively manage their externalities. To evaluate effectiveness and welfare costs of alternative policies, I develop a quantitative spatial model featuring data center entry, firm production, labor mobility, and electricity markets.
Presentations: 2025 LSE Energy Markets Mini-Conference
Dynamic Effects of Health on Employment among Older Workers (with Richard Blundell, Jack Britton, Monica Costa Dias, and Eric French) R&R Journal of Economics of Aging
Energy Transition in Low- and Middle-Income Countries [draft coming soon!]
In preparation for the Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Economics and Finance
Public WASH Programs, Long-Run Child Development, and Intergenerational Mobility in China (with Dongqin Wang)
Winning Paper, 2024 Asian Development Bank-IEA Innovative Research Award
Asian Development Institute WP: ADBI WP 1396 WP
Presentations: 2024 Japanese Association for Development Economist Conference, 2023 Asian Development Bank Conference, Applied Young Economist Webinar, Hong Kong Economics Association Annual Meeting, WASH Econ Conference, Singapore Meeting of Econometric Society (Declined)
Selected Work in Progress
Heat Insurance at Work (with Amen Jalal, Pol Simpson, Ashley Pople)
AEA RCT ID: AEARCTR-0015728
Heatwaves, intensified by climate change, hit the poorest the hardest. Many are exposed to dangerous temperatures through outdoor work or limited access to adaptive resources. In 2024, 37 cities in India surpassed 45°C (113°F), and around 40,000 heat stroke cases were reported. How can social protection systems evolve to address the growing losses caused by extreme heat? We evaluate an innovative intervention in India that offers automatic daily wage payments to low-income workers when temperatures exceed a predetermined threshold. Developed by the Self Employed Women's Association (SEWA) – a union representing over 3 million informal workers – the scheme is the world's first parametric heat insurance product targeting earnings loss. We use a randomized encouragement design, incentivizing SEWA officers to promote enrollment in 2,821 treatment villages, while 2,821 control villages receive no targeted outreach.
The Spatial Diffusion of Distributed Solar (with Qingyu Chen and Yifan Wang)
Funding: Private Enterprise Development in Low-Income Countries (PEDL) Exploratory Research Grants (2025, 2026)
Clearing the Air on Used Vehicles (with Yunyu Shu, Xinmei Yang) [Slides available Upon Request]
Funding: International Growth Centre
How does the presence of international trade in used durable goods, such as vehicles, affect the efficacy and relative welfare effects of unilateral policies to decarbonize transportation? This project combines a micro-founded structural model with novel data from multiple countries, to understand the effectiveness, potential economic costs, and environmental impacts, of restricting trade in used vehicles.
The Geography of Development Programs (with Marta Morando and Beyza Gulmezoglu)
Pre-Doctoral Work
Resource Cursed? The Short- and Long-run Effects of Coal Mining on Human Capital Accumulation in Indonesia [in submission]
Best Performance in LSE Quantitative Thesis (EC331) in 2022
Presentations: The 21st Carroll Round at Georgetown University (2022), University of Sydney SSEAC Emerging Scholars Conference (2022), 2023 University of Oxford Centre for Study of African Economies (CSAE) Conference, 2023 Nordic Development Conference, 2023 German Development Conference
Ethnic Earnings Gaps among University-Educated Men in England (with Ben Waltmann, and Jack Britton)
Presentations: 2023 Sheffield Work, Pensions and Labour Economics Conference, 2023 York Workshop on Labour and Family Economics
Covid And The City: Intra-Hospital Transmission of Covid-19 (with Brooklyn Han, Stefanus Phan, and Callum Renton).
Can decentralisation be a force for bad? New evidence from environment clearances in India (with Brooklyn Han, Visheshika Baheti, Chloe Chong, and Naomi Sanders) SSRN
Presentations: LSE Interdisciplinary Student Research Conference (2021), University of Oxford MPhil Novel Ideas Seminar (2022)
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