Xuening WANG May 2018 University of Illinois at Chicago Department of Economics 601 South Morgan Street 725 University Hall (MC 144) Chicago, IL 60607 Email: xueningwangxw@gmail.com Phone: (312) 619-1187 Website: https://xnwang.weebly.com/ EDUCATION Expected 2018 Ph.D. in Economics, Certificate in Teaching of Economics University of Illinois at Chicago Dissertation: Understanding Immigrant Job Mobility in the United States Committee: Darren Lubotsky (Chair), Benjamin Feigenberg, Ben Ost, Steve Rivkin, and Ce Shang 2012 M.A. in Applied Economics, Ohio University 2010 B.A. in International Economics and Trade, Yunnan University RESEARCH FIELDS Labor Economics, Economics of Education, Health Economics, Public Economics, Environmental Economics, and Applied Econometrics. RESEARCH PAPERS AND WORK IN PROGRESS The Association between Tax Structures and the Price Variability of Alcoholic Beverages in the United States, with Ce Shang and Frank Chaloupka, Revise and Resubmit to International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health US Permanent Residency, Job Mobility, and Earnings Job Market Paper Job Mobility Patterns A Comparison between Immigrants and Natives The Effect of a Green Card on Worker Well-being The Effect of Age at School Entry on Educational Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from China, with PhD students Chuanyi Guo and Chen Meng, presented at the AEA Annual Meeting in January 2018 The Cost of Vaping and Demand for E-Cigarettes: Economic Analysis from Four Countries, with Ce Shang, Frank Chaloupka, et al The Response of Industrial Production to Climate Shocks: Evidence from Europe RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 2017 Research Assistant, Institute for Health Research and Policy, UIC. Alcohol tax avoidance and evasion, smoking policy and e-cigarette consumption 2011-2012 Research Assistant, Department of Economics, Ohio University 2009 Policy Analyst Internship, Department of Marketing, China Bank of Communications 2008-2009 Research Assistant, Yunnan University 1
TEACHING EXPERIENCE Department of Economics, University of Illinois at Chicago Course Instructor Principles of Microeconomics (Summer 2015) Discussion Session Instructor Principles of Microeconomics (Fall 2015, Summer 2017) Principles of Macroeconomics (Summer 2016, Fall 2016) Principles of Economics (Fall 2012) Lab Session Instructor Statistics for Economists (Spring 2015) Econometrics (Spring 2016, Spring 2017) Teaching Assistant Principles of Microeconomics (Spring 2013) Intermediate Microeconomics (Summer 2014, Fall 2014) Econometrics (Summer 2013, Fall 2013, Spring 2014) Department of Economics, Ohio University Teaching Assistant International Trade (Fall 2010) Money and Banking (Spring 2011) PRESENTATIONS November 2017 November 2017 October 2017 October 2017 June 2017 April 2017 March 2017 November 2016 October 2016 Southern Economic Association 2017 Conference APPAM 2017 Fall Research Conference UIC Economics Research Lunch Illinois Economics Association Annual Conference Western Economic Association Annual Conference APPAM DC Regional Student Conference UIC Graduate Student Research Seminar UIC Graduate Student Research Seminar Illinois Economics Association Annual Conference (Discussant) HONORS & SCHOLARSHIPS Fall 2017 President s Research in Diversity Travel Award, University of Illinois Fall 2017 Finalist for PhD Student Paper Competition, Illinois Economic Association Spring 2017 Department Travel Funding Award, UIC Summer 2016 Travel Award for ÊSTIMATE Econometrics Workshop at Michigan State University 2010-2012 Graduate Assistantship, Department of Economics, Ohio University 2008 Outstanding Student Award and Academic Excellence Scholarship, Yunnan University 2007 Honorary Mention Award in China Central Television (CCTV) Cup English-speaking Contest SKILLS Software Proficient in STATA, SAS, R, MS Office, and EndNote. Experience with Matlab and SPSS Languages English (fluent), Mandarin Chinese (native) 2
REFERENCES Professor Darren Lubotsky (Advisor) 728 University Hall (MC 144) lubotsky@uic.edu (312)996-6240 Professor Ben Ost 718 University Hall (MC 144) bost@uic.edu (312)996-3913 Professor Benjamin Feigenberg 706 University Hall (MC 144) bfeigenb@uic.edu (312)996-0970 Professor Evelyn Lehrer (Teaching) 710 University Hall (MC 144) elehrer@uic.edu (312)413-2363 ABSTRACTS US Permanent Residency, Job Mobility, and Earnings Job Market Paper (under review) One concern regarding current immigration policies is that skilled immigrant workers on temporary work visas may be bound to their sponsoring firms in indentured servitude, with weakened bargaining power and lower wages. Using the National Survey of College Graduates, I address this concern by estimating the effect of acquiring US permanent residency on the voluntary job mobility and earnings of skilled temporary professionals. Within an individual fixed effects framework, I find a substantial increase in workers voluntary job mobility following receipt of permanent residency. A decomposition analysis indicates that at least 60 percent of the spike in mobility is driven by voluntary moving being discouraged during the employer-sponsored green card (permanent residency) application process, as opposed to barriers that are induced by temporary visa regulations. In addition, I find that upon acquiring a green card, only male applicants experience an earnings gain for them, the green card premium translates to an 8 percent increase in annual earnings. Job Mobility Pattern A Comparison between Immigrants and Natives (Dissertation Chapter) Using the National Survey of College Graduates, this paper compares the voluntary job-to-job transition patterns of skilled native-born workers with three different groups of immigrants naturalized citizens, permanent residents, and temporary visa holders. Given the institutional constraints described in my job market paper, I find that temporary professionals are slightly less mobile than comparable native-born workers. However, compared with their native-born counterparts, both permanent residents and naturalized citizens have persistent higher probabilities to voluntarily switch employers, even with full covariates. Empirical evidence on the reasons for job moves leads to three hypotheses: (1) these immigrants have less family ties in the United States; (2) intra-firm promotions are difficult; and (3) foreign-born workers start their career with reservation wages lower than natives, and better labor market alternatives are therefore more likely in the future. 3
The Effect of Age at School Entry on Educational Attainment and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from China (with PhD students Chuanyi Guo and Chen Meng) The long-term economic impact of children s age at primary school entry is one of the primary concerns to policymakers, educators, and families. Using China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), we explore these effects with a regression discontinuity design, employing the threshold date for primary school entrance set by the 1986 Compulsory Education Law of China as a source of exogenous variation in the timing of school entry. First, this paper documents weak compliance with the school entry legislation- individuals born just after the threshold date are only 0.29 years older at school entry than their earlier-born counterparts, whereas the predicted difference with perfect compliance is nearly one year. The discontinuity carries on leading to 0.57 more years of completed schooling for those born right after the threshold date. However, with either the full sample or subsamples separated by demographic characteristics, there is no evidence that school entrance age affects labor market outcomes, such as personal income and the probability of employment, in adulthood. The Association between Tax Structures and the Price Variability of Alcoholic Beverages in the United States (with Ce Shang and Frank Chaloupka, Revise and Resubmit) Recent tobacco taxation research suggests that tax structure plays an important role in the effectiveness of tax policy in reducing consumption, but similar evidence for alcoholic beverages is scarce. This study empirically assesses the associations between excise tax structures and the price variability of beer, wine and liquor. We link price variability measures derived using Economist Intelligence Unit city data from 2003 to 2016 to the state tax structure variables obtained from the Alcohol Policy Information System. Our regression analysis shows that compared with a specific-only tax structure, a mixed structure is associated with 24% 38% greater beer price variability. However, such a structure for liquor is associated with higher price dispersions only in a bivariate analysis. No associations are found for wine. The results imply that simplifying a mixed tax system to a system with only specific taxes may reduce tax avoidance opportunities and subsequently improve the effectiveness of beer and liquor taxes in curbing excessive drinking. "The Cost of Vaping and the Demand for E-Cigarettes: Economic Analysis from Four Countries" (with Ce Shang, Frank Chaloupka, et al) Despite different regulatory environments, the awareness and use of e-cigarettes (ECs) have grown markedly during the past decade in many high-income countries. The relative price of ECs compared to cigarettes is likely to be an important determinant of the demand for ECs. This study estimates how the demand for ECs among adults who have ever smoked in Australia (AU), Canada (CA), England (EN) and the United States (US) was associated with the cost of disposable, pre-filled (e.g. cartridges), and modular/ tank system (e.g. e-liquid) ECs, relative to the cost of cigarettes. Using data from the 2016 International Tobacco Control (ITC) Four Country Survey, logistic regressions show that in all four countries, higher EC prices compared to the prices of cigarettes reduced the likelihood that ever smokers reported ever or currently using ECs. This suggests that relative prices play an important role in the transitions into EC use regardless of regulatory environment. Furthermore, our data indicates that for EC users, tank systems were complements to pre-filled ECs in the US, and to both disposable and pre-filled ECs in CA. 4
The Response of Industrial Production to Climate Shocks: Evidence from Europe This paper examines the contemporaneous impacts of the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) on industrial production in the United Kingdom (UK) and Italy. Climatological evidence suggests an association between these two climatic events and weather fluctuations in European countries. These fluctuations are measured by sea surface temperature (SST) variations of the Pacific and North Atlantic Oceans. To account for reverse causality, I adopt a structural VAR model to estimate the effect of SST variations on the monthly country-level industrial production indices (IPIs) reported by the European Commission. Overall, my analysis indicates that ENSO and NAO have economically important and statistically significant effects on industrial production in both Italy and UK. I also find that the Italian industries are more susceptible to climate variability, especially in the production of intermediate and capital goods. For example, a one-degree Celsius positive surprise above the long-term historical average SSTs of the Niño 3.4 region reduces the IPIs of these goods by 1.03 points, accounting for approximately 17% of movements in IPIs. 5