1. Development Economics
I consider myself primarily a development economist. Recently, I focus on poverty alleviation issues (especially those related to cash transfer and migration), innovation, and environmental policies. Concurrently, I am interested in healthcare policies that affect people's well-being in developing contexts. I have conducted studies investigating human capital accumulation (affected by on-the-job training, family planning, etc.), migration, and income mobility.
Work in Progress
"China's Environmental Policies and Innovation: A Systematic Evaluation", with Xianling Long
"Evaluating the Economic Impact of BKSS in Sarawak", with Saizi Xiao, Wong Chin Yoong, and Sharifah Nabila binti Syed Salleh
"Assessing the Economic Impact of Temporary Basic Income (TBI) in Malaysia", with MIER and UNDP
Working Paper
"Health Insurance Design in a Tiered Medical System", with Julie Shi and Xi Wang
- Previously circulated as "Understanding Deductible and Reimbursement Maximum: A Study of Rural China's Tiered Medical System" and "Understanding Deductible and Reimbursement Maximum in a Tiered Medical System"
- Presented in the 2022 ARIA Annual Meeting
"Do Joint Ventures Innovate More? Micro-evidence from China", with Jingwei Chen, Bing Li, and Feng Yu
- Manuscript (as of Oct 24, 2022) available upon request
Published Paper
Hongbing Xu, Castiel Chen Zhuang* Xinpeng Guan, Xinghou He, Rongshan Wu, Tong Wang, Qinghong Zhang, and Wei Huang. "Associations of Climate Variability Driven by El Niño-Southern Oscillation with Excess Mortality and Related Medical Costs in Chinese Elderly." Science of the Total Environment, 851: 158196, December 2022.
Qifan Huang, and Castiel Chen Zhuang*. "Training, Productivity, and Wages: An Investigation of China's Manufacturing Enterprises in a Privatization Era." Economics of Transition and Institutional Change, 30(2): 269-288, Apr 2022.
Yi Chen, Julie Shi*, and Castiel Chen Zhuang. "Income-dependent Impacts of Health Insurance on Medical Expenditures: Theory and Evidence from China." China Economic Review, 53: 290-310, February 2019.
Xuezheng Qin, Castiel Chen Zhuang*, and Rudai Yang. "Does One-Child Policy Improve Children's Human Capital in Urban China? A Regression Discontinuity Design." Journal of Comparative Economics, 45(2): 287-303, May 2017.
Xuezheng Qin*, Tianyu Wang, and Castiel Chen Zhuang. "Intergenerational Transfer of Human Capital and Its Impact on Income Mobility: Evidence from China." China Economic Review, 38: 306-321, April 2016.
2. Applied Microeconomics/Microeconometrics
I also devote to applying microeconomics and microeconometrics to policy evaluation, analysis, and design. I do not particularly prioritize structural approaches over reduced-form methods, but many times I do prefer recovering the structural "deep" parameters to understand the welfare consequences of existing and counterfactual policies.
Working Paper
"Examining the Zero-Markup Drug Policy in China: A Structural Approach", with Qifan Huang and Zhentong Lu, under review
- Previously circulated as "Vertical Separation and Price Negotiation: A Case Study of China's Lipid-Lowering Drug Industry"
- Presented in the 2022 SUFE-JinanIO Conference (previously known as China-VIOS), 2022 AEA/ASSA Annual Meeting, 2021 China Meeting of Econometric Society, WEAI's 2021 Virtual International Conference (presented by coauthor; check out the session information here), and WEAI's 96th Annual Conference (check out the session information here)
- Slides (Jun 16, 2022)
"Competition and Product Assortment in a Social E-commerce Platform: A Deep Learning Approach", with Ying-chin Chen and Qifan Huang, under review
- Previously circulated as "The Causal Impact of Market Competition on Product Variety: A Deep Neural Network Representation Learning Approach"
- Presented in the 2021 INFORMS Annual Meeting (presented by coauthor; check out the session abstract here)
- Manuscript (as of Sep 27, 2022) available upon request
"Heterogeneous Policy Impacts: A Modal Regression Approach", with Ying-chin Chen, under review
- Manuscript (as of Sep 29, 2022) available upon request
Published Paper
Qifan Huang, Saizi Xiao, and Castiel Chen Zhuang*. "The Heterogeneous Impact of COVID-19 in a Two-Sided Market: Evidence from a Live-Streaming Platform." Applied Economics, 54(49): 5670-5689, October 2022.
- Presented in the NABE TEC 2020 Virtual Poster Sessions
3. Miscellaneous
Finally, I do have a few other research interests. One important topic that I am enjoying exploring is precarious employment. This is an issue that is not unique to the developing world. In fact, it is quite widespread in developed countries. Moreover, I am a fan of international trade and (both inward and outward) foreign direct investment. While having a broad interests, I do prioritize my time in the previous two areas.
Working Paper
"Association Between Maternal Precarious Employment and Child Overweight/Obesity", with Vanessa Oddo and Jessica Jones-Smith, revised and resubmitted
- Manuscript under revision
"Trade Liberalization and Skill Upgrading: Evidence on the Impact of APTA on Chinese Manufacturers", with Chujian Shao and Qiliang Chen
- Slides (Sep 3, 2021)
Published Paper
Vanessa Oddo*, Castiel Chen Zhuang, Jessica Jones-Smith, Anjum Hajat, Jerome Dugan, Sarah Andrea, and Trevor Peckham. "Association between Precarious Employment and BMI in the United States." Obesity, 31(1): 234-242, January 2023. (Editors' Choice)
Vanessa Oddo*, Castiel Chen Zhuang, Sarah Andrea, Jerzy Eisenberg-Guyot, Trevor Peckham, Daniel Jacoby, and Anjum Hajat. "Changes in Precarious Employment in the United States: A Longitudinal Analysis." Scandinavian Journal of Work, Environment & Health, 47(3): 171-180, April 2021.
