Economist · Urbanization & Green Transition

Yu Qin

秦雨(篆刻印)

I study how China urbanizes and decarbonizes — housing and land, infrastructure, air and carbon, and the people whose lives these policies reshape — with a preference for clean causal identification on questions that matter.

Visiting Chair Professor, Guanghua School of Management, Peking University
Lum Chang Chair Professor, NUS Business School (on leave)

About

I am an applied economist working at the intersection of urban, environmental, and real estate economics. My research asks how the built environment — housing markets, transport networks, and energy systems — shapes and is shaped by public policy, and what the green transition means for firms, workers, and families, with a primary focus on China and related work across urban Asia.

I hold a PhD in Applied Economics from Cornell University and a B.A. in Finance with a B.S. in Statistics from Peking University. My work has been cited 2,700+ times (Google Scholar), and I am listed among the World's Top 2% Scientists in Economics (2024, 2025) and IDEAS/RePEc's top 1% of female economists by publications over the past decade. I received the AsREAP Women Achievement Award in 2026.

I serve as Co-Editor of the Journal of Environmental Economics and Management and of China Economic Review. I also run Impactful Research, a platform devoted to cultivating research taste among young scholars in China.

Research

Environmental Economics

碳中和 · 空气污染与治理

The economics of carbon neutrality — decarbonizing buildings, transportation, and enterprises — together with air pollution's economic consequences and the governance structures that succeed, or fail, in controlling it.

Urban Economics

交通 · 房地产市场

How transport infrastructure and housing and land markets shape China's cities — where people and firms locate, how prices form, and who gains from the geography that results.

Public Policy & Labor

公共政策与劳动力

How public policy moves labor markets, household decisions, and demographic outcomes — from migration restrictions and fertility policy to civil-service reform.

Selected Publications

From Employer Responsibility to Environmental Irresponsibility: Unintended Effects of Social Insurance Law on Emissions
with Yanan Li and Wenjun Wang · Management Science, accepted
English's Significance: Exam Performance by Subject and Future Income in China
with Ruixue Jia, Hongbin Li, Qiuyi Wang and Jing Wu · Journal of Development Economics, 2026
Green Regulation, Trade Friendliness, and Local Policy Adaptation
with Xinming Du and Yu Xie · Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2026
From Connections to Merit: Anti-corruption Reform and Occupational Mobility in China's Civil Service
with Geer Ang, Ya Tan and Fan Zhang · Economic Journal, 2025
Sea Level Rise Risks, Adaptation Strategies, and Real Estate Prices in Singapore
with Sumit Agarwal, Tien Foo Sing and Changwei Zhan · Journal of Public Economics, 2025
The Impact of Fertility Relaxation on the Gender Wage Gap
with Sumit Agarwal, Keyang Li, Jing Wu and Jubo Yan · Journal of Human Resources, forthcoming
The Local Labor Market Effect of Relaxing Internal Migration Restrictions: Evidence from China
with Lei An, Jing Wu and Wei You · Journal of Labor Economics, 2024 · ESI top 1% cited, Economics & Business
Disguised Pollution: Industrial Activities in the Dark
with Sumit Agarwal, Yajie Han and Hongjia Zhu · Journal of Public Economics, 2023
Water Conservation through Plumbing and Nudging
with Sumit Agarwal, Eduardo Araral, Mingxuan Fan and Huanhuan Zheng · Nature Human Behaviour, 2022 · Nature Research Highlight
Impact of High-Speed Rail on Road Traffic and Greenhouse Gas Emissions
with Yatang Lin, Jing Wu and Mandi Xu · Nature Climate Change, 2021
Tax Evasion, Capital Gain Taxes, and the Housing Market
with Sumit Agarwal, Keyang Li, Jing Wu and Jubo Yan · Journal of Public Economics, 2020
Negotiating Housing Deal on a Polluted Day: Consequences and Possible Explanations
with Jing Wu and Jubo Yan · Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, 2019
Run Away? Air Pollution and Emigration Interests in China
with Hongjia Zhu · Journal of Population Economics, 2018
"No County Left Behind?" The Distributional Impact of High-Speed Rail Upgrades in China
solo-authored · Journal of Economic Geography, 2017 · ESI top 1% cited, Social Sciences

Full list on Google Scholar · CV (PDF)

Book

房价的逻辑

《房价的逻辑》 · SDX Joint Publishing (三联书店), forthcoming 2026.

A book for general readers on the economic logic beneath China's housing prices — what two decades of evidence actually say, told without jargon.

Cover art and purchase links will appear here upon release.

Speaking

  • 2026.12Keynote, 13th Annual Natural Experiments Workshop (ANEW), Melbourne
  • 2026.07「AI时代,研究中什么仍然稀缺?」 — lecture at Camphor Economics Summer School
  • 2026.06Keynote, 13th International Workshop on Regional, Urban, and Spatial Economics in China (RUSE)

Editorial & Service

  • Co-EditorJournal of Environmental Economics and Management
  • Co-EditorChina Economic Review
  • Ed. BoardJournal of Economic Geography
  • FounderImpactful Research — an editorial platform for research taste