Working Papers:

• Heterogeneous Human Capital of College Graduates, Occupational Requirements and Earning Differentials (Job Market Paper)

This paper proposes a dynamic model of college course and occupation choices, where individuals make human capital investment under imperfect information about the future return. Using simulation results based on this model, I investigate the role played by uncertainty in student choices. I contribute to the recent task-based heterogeneous human capital literature by adding choices made before individuals enter the labor market. By combining college transcript data and occupational knowledge requirement information, I match human capital with occupational tasks to better evaluate the labor market performance of college graduates. For tractability purposes, both human capital and occupational tasks are aggregated to two dimensions: STEM and non-STEM. Estimation results indicate that college courses have different returns at work, with STEM courses inducing relatively higher wages. When uncertainty is eliminated, individuals specialize more in STEM or non-STEM based on their comparative advantages. The change of specialization in STEM courses is bigger compared to non-STEM courses. Overall benefits of human capital specialization are more pronounced in top ranking colleges.

• Retirement Age Extension and Long-term Care Policy Design in China (with Fu Tan)

This paper studies the long-term care policy design under a newly implemented retirement age extension reform in China. The previous mandatory retirement ages were 50 to 55 for women, which will be raised to 65 by 2045. This reform is expected to limit the available time of female adults, who are the primary caregivers in families, to provide informal care for elderly parents. Current social health insurance programs have limited coverage for long-term care services. It will be a challenge to meet the care needs of the elderly parents after the reform. To inform relevant policy designs, we build an overlapping generations model of altruistic agents. They depend on family members and public programs to insure against long-term care risks. The model incorporates the institutional details of the social security and public health insurance programs in China. Using the model, we provide consideration for the design of long-term care policies, in light of an aging population.