Yanhui Wu
Prof. Yanhui WU
Economics
Management and Strategy
Professor

3917 8508

KK 931

Academic & Professional Qualification

Ph.D. in Economics, London School of Economics

MSc. in Economics, London School of Economics

B.A. in Economics, Sun Yat-sen (Zhongshan) University

Biography

Dr. Wu is Professor of Economics and of Management and Strategy at the University of Hong Kong. He is also a research fellow of the Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR) and a non-residential Fellow of the 21 Century China Center at UC San Diego. Prior to HKU, he taught at the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California. His research has been published at top economics, management, and statistics journals, including the American Economic Review, Econometrica, Review of Economics and Statistics, Economic Journal, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Management Science, and Organization Science.

Teaching
  • Economics of Organization and Strategy (PhD)
  • Economics of Artificial Intelligence and Innovation (Master)
  • Managerial Economics (MBA)
  • Causal Inference (Undergraduate)
Research Interest
  • Media Economics, Organizational Economics, the Chinese Economy, Economics of Digital Platforms and AI
Selected Publications
  • Social Media and Collective Action in China (with Bei Qin and David Strӧmberg), Econometrica, Forthcoming
  • Street-level responsiveness of city governments in China, Germany, and the United States (with Ekkehard Köhler and John G Matsusaka), Journal of Comparative Economics, 51(2): 640-652, June, (2023).
  • Competition, Contracts, and Creativity: Evidence from Novel Writing in a Platform Market (with Feng Zhu), Management Science, 68(12): 8613-8634, December, (2022).
  • Intentional Control of Type I Error Over Unconscious Data Distortion: A Neyman-Pearson Approach to Text Classification (with Lucy Xia, Richard Zhao and Xin Tong), Journal of the American Statistical Association, 116(533): 68-81, March, (2021).
  • Media Bias in China (with Bei Qin and David Strӧmberg), American Economic Review, 108(9): 2442-76, September, (2018).
  • Incentive Contracts and the Allocation of Talent, Economic Journal, 127(607): 2744-2783, December, (2017).
  • Authority, Incentives and Performance: Evidence from a Chinese Newspaper, Review of Economics and Statistics, 99(1): 16-31, March, (2017).
  • Why Does China Allow Freer Social Media? Protests versus Surveillance and Propaganda (with Bei Qin and David Strӧmberg), Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(1): 117-40 (2017).
  • Organizational Structure and Product Choice in Knowledge Intensive Firms, Management Science, 61(8): 1830-1848 (2015).
  • Knowledge, Communication and Organizational Capabilities (with Luis Garicano), Organization Science, 23(5):1382-1397 (2012).
Recent Publications
Platform Bias Creates Barriers to Digital Innovations

Digital platforms help lesser-known cultural workers find their audience by reducing consumers' search costs, allowing products that struggle in traditional markets to enter at lower costs, thereby fostering a more diverse marketplace. However, as traffic becomes increasingly important, operations of digital platforms are becoming more biased. In China's digital arts and entertainment market, the platform's promotion and manipulation can dictate a creative work's success and may even hinder innovation.

Platform Bias Creates Barriers to Digital Innovations

Digital platforms help lesser-known cultural workers find their audience by reducing consumers' search costs, allowing products that struggle in traditional markets to enter at lower costs, thereby fostering a more diverse marketplace. However, as traffic becomes increasingly important, operations of digital platforms are becoming more biased. In China's digital arts and entertainment market, the platform's promotion and manipulation can dictate a creative work's success and may even hinder innovation.

With Returns Down, Is It Worth Going Up the Educational Ladder?

With the rapidly changing economic structure nowadays, investing in higher education is no longer a guaranteed way to achieve high returns. This raises the question: is it still worth attending university? Due to the on-going economic restructuring in China, university graduates not only face difficulty in finding jobs, but a more unusual phenomenon is that the graduates with higher education qualifications encounter even more difficulties in securing employment. The author opined that it is because the education industry has expanded excessively in the past 20 years, coupled with uneven economic development and reduced social mobility, which has diminished educational returns. The widespread use of artificial intelligence technology brings greater uncertainty to future educational returns.

With Returns Down, Is It Worth Going Up the Educational Ladder?

With the rapidly changing economic structure nowadays, investing in higher education is no longer a guaranteed way to achieve high returns. This raises the question: is it still worth attending university? Due to the on-going economic restructuring in China, university graduates not only face difficulty in finding jobs, but a more unusual phenomenon is that the graduates with higher education qualifications encounter even more difficulties in securing employment. The author opined that it is because the education industry has expanded excessively in the past 20 years, coupled with uneven economic development and reduced social mobility, which has diminished educational returns. The widespread use of artificial intelligence technology brings greater uncertainty to future educational returns.

Finding Hong Kong’s Place in the World of English

One of the indicators of whether a city can be considered as an international metropolis is perhaps the English proficiency of its residents. According to the EF English Proficiency Index report in 2023, Hong Kong ranked fourth among 23 countries and regions in Asia. However, there are two examples of different attitudes towards English in developed areas of Asia.

Finding Hong Kong’s Place in the World of English

One of the indicators of whether a city can be considered as an international metropolis is perhaps the English proficiency of its residents. According to the EF English Proficiency Index report in 2023, Hong Kong ranked fourth among 23 countries and regions in Asia. However, there are two examples of different attitudes towards English in developed areas of Asia.

Will the Cross-border Consumption Trend Hollow Out Hong Kong’s Economy?

The norm of ‘going north’ distresses local businesses. Yet, the author believes limited long-term impact on Hong Kong's economy. The development of local service industry actually is more correlated with the city's ability to grow its future economy and sustain long-term global competitiveness.

Will the Cross-border Consumption Trend Hollow Out Hong Kong’s Economy?

The norm of ‘going north’ distresses local businesses. Yet, the author believes limited long-term impact on Hong Kong's economy. The development of local service industry actually is more correlated with the city's ability to grow its future economy and sustain long-term global competitiveness.

Is China Stumbling in a Deflation Trap?

去年2月,筆者在本專欄撰文,剖析新冠肺炎疫情之後出現的東滯西脹現象。一年半之後的今天,西脹回落,東滯猶在。本月9日,中國經濟運行的統計數據公布,7月份消費價格指數比去年同期下降0.3%,出現了自2021年2月以來的首次按年負增長;不僅如此,生產價格指數的按年跌幅為4.4%,延續6月的下降趨勢。

Is China Stumbling in a Deflation Trap?

去年2月,筆者在本專欄撰文,剖析新冠肺炎疫情之後出現的東滯西脹現象。一年半之後的今天,西脹回落,東滯猶在。本月9日,中國經濟運行的統計數據公布,7月份消費價格指數比去年同期下降0.3%,出現了自2021年2月以來的首次按年負增長;不僅如此,生產價格指數的按年跌幅為4.4%,延續6月的下降趨勢。