I am an applied microeconomic theorist. I work on topics including but not limited to matching theory (with applications to labor economics and family economics), game theory (bargaining, auctions, evolution), and interdisciplinary topics (science of science, machine learning, team interactions, sustainability). I seek to test my theories empirically and experimentally, and apply them in interdisciplinary and classroom settings.
[Google Scholar] [SSRN] [RePEc] [MSU Scholars]

PAPERS [by date] [by topic]

Note: Authors are equally contributing first authors and ordered alphabetically, unless asteriked (*).
[Matching and bargaining] [Auctions] [Evolution] [Experiments] [Science of science] [China] [Human-computer interaction] [Teaching]

Matching and bargaining (back to top)

• Changes in marital sorting: Theory and evidence from the US (with Pierre-André Chiappori, Monica Costa Dias, and Costas Meghir),
  Journal of Political Economy, October 2025.
  subsumes "Axiomatic measures of assortative matching" (Zhang) and "Changes in assortative matching: Theory and evidence for the US" (Chiappori, Costa Dias, and Meghir)
• An evolutionary justification for equal sharing (with Jiabin Wu),
  May 2025.
• Young women in cities: Urbanization and gender-biased migration (with Yumi Koh, Jing Li, Yifan Wu, and Junjian Yi),
  Journal of Development Economics, January 2025. (special issue on "Migration and Development")
• Self-enforced job matching (with Ce Liu and Ziwei Wang),
  American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, revise and resubmit, November 2024.
• Decentralized matching with transfers: Experimental and noncooperative analyses (with Simin He, Jiabin Wu, and Xun Zhu),
  American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, November 2024.
• Reputational bargaining with external resolution opportunities (with Mehmet Ekmekci),
  Review of Economic Studies, published online, May 2024.
• Marital preferences and stable matching in cultural evolution (with Victor Hiller and Jiabin Wu),
  Journal of Economic Theory, June 2023.
  Previously circulated as "Heterophily, stable matching, and intergenerational transmission in cultural evolution"
• A marriage-market perspective on risk-taking and career choices (with Ben Zou),
  European Economic Review, February 2023.
• Assortative mating on blood type: Evidence from one million Chinese pregnancies (with Yao Hou, Ke Tang, Jingyuan Wang, and Danxia Xie),
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 2022.
• Preference evolution in different matching markets (with Jiabin Wu),
  European Economic Review, August 2021.
• An investment-and-marriage model with differential fecundity: On the college gender gap,
  Journal of Political Economy, May 2021.
• Pre-matching gambles,
  Games and Economic Behavior, May 2020.

Auctions (back to top)

• Open versus sealed auctions in online labor markets: Evidence from a natural experiment (with Qiang Gao, Chenhui Guo, and Mingfeng Lin),
  April 2025.
• Borrowing stigma and lender of last resort policies (with Yunzhi Hu),
  Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, February 2025.
  Paul Van Arsdell Best Paper Award in Corporate Finance, Midwest Finance Association
  Best Paper Award in Markets and Institutions, Eastern Finance Association
• Prices versus auctions in large markets,
  Economic Theory, November 2021.
• The optimal sequence of prices and auctions,
  European Economic Review, April 2021.
  Extended abstract in Third Conference on Auctions, Market Mechanisms and Their Applications, August 2015.
  Yahoo Key Scientific Challenges Award

Evolutionary economics (back to top)

• An evolutionary justification for equal sharing (with Jiabin Wu),
  May 2025.
• Marital preferences and stable matching in cultural evolution (with Victor Hiller and Jiabin Wu),
  Journal of Economic Theory, June 2023.
  Previously circulated as "Heterophily, stable matching, and intergenerational transmission in cultural evolution"
• Decision model to optimize long-term subsidy strategy for green building promotion (Yongsheng Jiang, Tao Hu, Dong Zhao, Hanzhe Zhang, Bingsheng Liu, Yunjia Zhang, and Zihao Xu)*,
  Sustainable Cities and Society, November 2022.
• Polarization, antipathy, and political activism (with Jiabin Wu),
  Economic Inquiry, lead article, July 2022.
• Preference evolution in different matching markets (with Jiabin Wu),
  European Economic Review, August 2021.
• An evolutionary justification for overconfidence (with Kim Gannon),
  Economics Bulletin, September 2020.
  University Undergraduate Research and Arts Forum (UURAF) Best Paper Award, Michigan State University
  
• Evolutionary justifications for non-Bayesian beliefs,
  Economics Letters, November 2013.

Experiments (back to top)

• Pay it forward: Theory and experiment (with Amanda Chuan),
  Games and Economic Behavior, revise and resubmit, January 2025.
• Decentralized matching with transfers: Experimental and noncooperative analyses (with Simin He, Jiabin Wu, and Xun Zhu),
  American Economic Journal: Microeconomics, November 2024.
• To risk or not to risk? Improving financial risk taking of older adults by online social information (Jason Chen Zhao, Wai-Tat Fu, Hanzhe Zhang, Henry Been-Lirn Duh, and Shengdong Zhao)*,
  Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, March 2015.

Science of science

• Over a century of economics research collaboration (with Willy Chen and Xiao Qiao),
  May 2025.
• High and rising concentration of award-winning economists (with Richard B. Freeman, Danxia Xie, and Hanzhang Zhou),
  July 2024.
  Media coverage: The Atlantic, Financial Times, Firstpost, Forbes, Forum New Economy, Guardian

China (back to top)

• Young women in cities: Urbanization and gender-biased migration (with Yumi Koh, Jing Li, Yifan Wu, and Junjian Yi),
  Journal of Development Economics, January 2025. (special issue on "Migration and Development")
• How homebuyers’ cognition and affect shape their attitude on green buildings (Yongsheng Jiang, Zihao Xu, Jiayu Chen, Dong Zhao, Hanzhe Zhang, and Ying Li)*, October 2024.
• Profit versus sustainability in bikeshare (with Huiyi Litan, Ke Rong, Youran Wu, Danxia Xie, and Dong Zhao),
  Sustainable Cities and Society, June 2023.
• Assortative mating on blood type: Evidence from one million Chinese pregnancies (with Yao Hou, Ke Tang, Jingyuan Wang, and Danxia Xie),
  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, December 2022.
• Decision model to optimize long-term subsidy strategy for green building promotion (Yongsheng Jiang, Tao Hu, Dong Zhao, Hanzhe Zhang, Bingsheng Liu, Yunjia Zhang, and Zihao Xu)*,
  Sustainable Cities and Society, November 2022.
• Cohort profile: The China Jintan child cohort study (Jianghong Liu, Linda A. McCauley, Yang Zhao, Hanzhe Zhang, and Jennifer Pinto-Martin)*,
  International Journal of Epidemiology, June 2010.

Human-computer interaction (back to top)

• Iterative development of dynamic student project team interventions (Arnav Jain, Faizan Shafique, Sinem Mollaoglu, Xu Dong, Hanzhe Zhang, Shimeng Dai, Kenneth Frank, Dorothy Carter, Anna Young Argyris, Annick Anctil, and Kristen Cetin)*,
  Construction Research Congress, March 2024.
• Does the transition to online meetings exacerbate or alleviate gender and racial inequities in student participation in project teams? Theory-guided machine-learning analysis of online collaborative work during the pandemic (Xu Dong, Victoria Nelson, Hanzhe Zhang, Young Anna Argyris [four first auhors], Sinem Mollaoglu, Kenneth Frank, Arnav Jain, Xiao Qiao, Joseph Thekinen, and Haochen Liu)*,
  August 2023.
• Project team collaborations during time of disruptions: Transaction costs, knowledge flows, and social network theory perspective (Hasan Gokberk Bayhan, Sinem Mollaoglu, Hanzhe Zhang, and Kenneth Frank)*,
  Construction Research Congress, March 2022.
• To risk or not to risk? Improving financial risk taking of older adults by online social information (Jason Chen Zhao, Wai-Tat Fu, Hanzhe Zhang, Henry Been-Lirn Duh, and Shengdong Zhao)*,
  Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing, March 2015.
• Two-player zero-sum poker models with one and two rounds of betting,
  Penn Science, Fall 2010.

Teaching-related work (back to top)

• Tractable cubic cost functions for teaching microeconomics (with Scott Swinton),
  Applied Economics Teaching Resources, June 2021.
  [Excel] [Mathematica] [Mathematica PDF]

SELECTED GRANTS

• Predicting successful scientific collaborations (with co-PI Xiao Qiao),
  Amazon Research Awards (PI, $87,500), January 2023-December 2025.
• Intelligent social network interventions to augment human cognition for bolstered interdisciplinary interactions in project teams and
  Supplement: Responding to COVID-19 challenges in preparation of future of work (with PI Sinem Mollaoglu and co-PIs Richard DeShon, Kenneth Frank, and Jiliang Tang),
  National Science Foundation, Future of Work at the Human-Technology Frontier (co-PI, $1,439,993), September 2019-August 2024.
• Sequential competition with mechanism choice,
  Yahoo Key Scientific Challenges Research Grant (PI, $5,000), April 2012.
  

THESES

• Essays in matching, auctions, and evolution,
  PhD Thesis, Department of Economics, University of Chicago, June 2015
  Committee: Gary Becker (co-chair), Phil Reny (co-chair), Pierre-Andre Chiappori, Scott Kominers, and Hugo Sonnenschein.
• Two-player zero-sum poker games,
  Master Thesis, Department of Mathematics, University of Pennsylvania, May 2010
  Committee: Robin Pemantle (chair) and Herman Gluck.
• Deriving valuations from bidding behavior: British third-generation auction in 2000,
  Honors BA Thesis, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania, May 2010
  Advisor: Kenneth Wolpin.
  Lawrence R. Klein Prize, best undergraduate economics thesis