I am an Economics PhD candidate at the University of California, Merced. My research is centered on how psychological motivations can influence and drive economic behavior, particularly in the social preferences domain of reciprocity, fairness, concerns for self-image, and concerns for status. I primarily use experimental methods involving human subjects with a secondary emphasis on theoretical and agent-based modeling.
In the past, I worked as an indie games developer and as a classroom instructor at 9 Dots, a non-profit dedicated to developing computer science education for K-12 public schools in the Los Angeles area. In my spare time, I enjoy designing and playing games of all sorts.
I am on the 2025-2026 job market. My Job Market Paper is available here.
Free free to reach out!
Contact: thua5 [at] ucmerced [dot] edu