Yingyao Hu

Hu was born in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR). His parents were among the 97,000 Shanghai zhiqing (知青), or zhishi qingnian (知识青年), “the educated youths,” mobilized by the Chinese state to migrate to the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps (新疆生产建设兵团) from 1963 to 1966. Hu went to the elementary, middle, and high school in Xinjiang. He was admitted to the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University as the 14th highest scored student{{cite web | url=http://www.econ2.jhu.edu/people/hu/where.html | title=Links }}{{psc|date=July 2024}} of Xinjiang in 1989. He graduated from Tsinghua University with a B.E. in 1994 and from Fudan University with a M.A. in 1997. He studied in the Department of Economics at Michigan State University for one year in 1998, and then transferred to the Johns Hopkins University, where he obtained his Ph.D. in economics (2003) and M.S.E. in mathematical sciences (2001).{{Cite web |last= |first= |date= |title=Yingyao Hu |url=https://www.econ2.jhu.edu/people/hu/where.html |access-date=2022-05-23 |website=Department of Economics, Johns Hopkins University}} His Ph.D. advisor is Geert Ridder.

Hu was an assistant professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin between 2003 and 2007. He joined the Department of Economics at the Johns Hopkins University as an assistant professor in 2007, got promoted to be an associate professor in 2011, and a full professor in 2015. Starting from 2019, Hu has served as the Chair of in the Department of Economics at the Johns Hopkins University.

Hu is a Research Fellow at IZA (2008 – present), a Fellow of the Journal of Econometrics (2013 – present), and a Fellow of the Global Labor Organization (2020 – present).

Hu has contributed to the literature in micro-econometrics, empirical industrial organization, labor economics, and macroeconomics.

Hu studied identification and estimation of microeconomic models with mis-measured variables or unobserved heterogeneity, or more generally, "latent variables." He proposed an innovative approach to show that models with latent variables can be nonparametrically identified and estimated given that the latent variable has two measurements and a binary indicator that is correlated with it. This approach, now known in the literature as the "eigen-decomposition method", is applicable regardless the latent variable is discrete or continuous. Specifically, if the latent variable is discrete, the identification involves eigenvalue-eigenvector decomposition of a matrix constructed by the data; if the latent variable is continuous, it involves eigenfunction decomposition of a linear operator again constructed by the data.{{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |title=Identification and estimation of nonlinear models with misclassification error using instrumental variables: A general solution |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=May 2008 |volume=144 |issue=1 |pages=27–61 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2007.12.001 }}{{psc|date=July 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=Schennach |first2=Susanne M. |title=Instrumental Variable Treatment of Nonclassical Measurement Error Models |journal=Econometrica |date=January 2008 |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=195–216 |doi=10.1111/j.0012-9682.2008.00823.x |s2cid=15489823 }}{{psc|date=July 2024}} The method has been widely used in both structural economic models (e.g., auctions, games, dynamic models) and reduced form models.{{cite book |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |title=The Econometrics of Unobservables – Latent Variable and Measurement Error Models and Their Applications in Empirical Industrial Organization and Labor Economics |date=5 June 2024 |url=http://www.econ2.jhu.edu/People/Hu/Econometrics-of-Unobservables--Book.pdf |s2cid=21697937 }}{{pn|date=July 2024}}{{psc|date=July 2024}}

In addition to measurement error models, Hu has also worked on other important topics in econometrics such as completeness of a function and panel data models with fixed effects or unobserved covariates. His work on latent variables is summarized in the manuscript "The Econometrics of Unobservables – Latent Variable and Measurement Error Models and Their Applications in Empirical Industrial Organization and Labor Economics".{{Cite web|url=http://www.econ2.jhu.edu/People/Hu/Econometrics-of-Unobservables--Book.pdf|title=The Econometrics of Latent Variables|website=Econ2.jhu.edu|access-date=1 March 2022}}

Hu considered structural models with unobserved heterogeneity/variables. He contributed to the literature of auctions by providing identification of auction models with auction-level unobserved heterogeneity.{{cite journal |last1=An |first1=Yonghong |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |last3=Shum |first3=Matthew |title=Estimating first-price auctions with an unknown number of bidders: A misclassification approach |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=August 2010 |volume=157 |issue=2 |pages=328–341 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2010.02.002 }}{{psc|date=July 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=McAdams |first2=David |last3=Shum |first3=Matthew |title=Identification of first-price auctions with non-separable unobserved heterogeneity |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=June 2013 |volume=174 |issue=2 |pages=186–193 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2013.02.005 }}{{psc|date=July 2024}} Moreover, he contributed to the literature of dynamic discrete choice models by allowing the presence of time-varying unobserved state variable,{{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=Shum |first2=Matthew |title=Nonparametric identification of dynamic models with unobserved state variables |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=November 2012 |volume=171 |issue=1 |pages=32–44 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2012.05.023 |hdl=10419/49893 |hdl-access=free }}{{psc|date=July 2024}} or that the agent has subjective beliefs.{{cite journal |last1=An |first1=Yonghong |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |last3=Xiao |first3=Ruli |title=Dynamic decisions under subjective expectations: A structural analysis |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=May 2021 |volume=222 |issue=1 |pages=645–675 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2020.04.046 |s2cid=226953796 |hdl=10419/189703 |hdl-access=free }}{{psc|date=July 2024}} Furthermore, he studied agent's belief updating in learning models via lab experiments.{{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=Kayaba |first2=Yutaka |last3=Shum |first3=Matthew |title=Nonparametric learning rules from bandit experiments: The eyes have it! |journal=Games and Economic Behavior |date=September 2013 |volume=81 |pages=215–231 |doi=10.1016/j.geb.2013.05.003 |hdl=10419/64791 |url=https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20170726-145343662 |hdl-access=free }}{{psc|date=July 2024}}

Hu addressed the issue of misreporting in the Current Population Survey (CPS) and found that the official U.S. unemployment rate substantially underestimated the true level of unemployment. During the period from January 1996 to August 2011, the corrected monthly unemployment rates are between 1 and 4.4 percentage points (2.1 percentage points on average) higher than the official rates, and are more sensitive to changes in business cycles.{{cite journal |last1=Feng |first1=Shuaizhang |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |title=Misclassification Errors and the Underestimation of the US Unemployment Rate |journal=American Economic Review |date=1 April 2013 |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=1054–1070 |doi=10.1257/aer.103.2.1054 |hdl=10419/101366 |hdl-access=free }}{{psc|date=July 2024}} In another paper, Hu studied the impact of hurricanes on the regional fertility rate in the U.S.;{{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Richard W. |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |last3=Zhao |first3=Zhong |title=The fertility effect of catastrophe: U.S. hurricane births |journal=Journal of Population Economics |date=January 2010 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1–36 |doi=10.1007/s00148-008-0219-2 |hdl=10419/34380 |hdl-access=free }}{{psc|date=July 2024}} this paper won the 2013 Kuznets Prize for the best published article in the Journal of Population Economics during the period 2010 to 2012. More recently, Hu published a paper uncovering a more reliable estimate of China's unemployment rate.{{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=Yao |first2=Jiaxiong |title=Illuminating economic growth |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=June 2022 |volume=228 |issue=2 |pages=359–378 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2021.05.007 |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=46670 |url-access=subscription }}{{psc|date=July 2024}}

Hu expanded his interests into the macroeconomic space in recent years. He applied his econometric methods of latent variables to studying the GDP growth using a novel approach that relates nighttime lights with economic activities.{{cite book |last1=Beyer |first1=Robert C. M. |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |last3=Yao |first3=Jiaxiong |title=Measuring Quarterly Economic Growth from Outer Space |date=2022 |publisher=International Monetary Fund |isbn=979-8-4002-1155-3 }}{{pn|date=July 2024}}{{psc|date=July 2024}} This research has attracted much attention in media (BBC,{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w172wx8kq93mcnj|title=BBC World Service - World Business Report, China's economic growth beats expectations|website=BBC|access-date=1 March 2022}} IMF blog,{{cite news |last1=Yao |first1=Jiaxiong |title=When the Night Lights Go On in Asia |url=https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2019/09/24/when-the-night-lights-go-on-in-asia |work=IMF |date=24 September 2019 }} IMF F&D magazine,{{Cite web|url=https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/fandd/2019/09/satellite-images-at-night-and-economic-growth-yao.htm|title=Illuminating Economic Growth Using Satellite Images |website=Imf.org|access-date=1 March 2022}} Le Monde,{{Cite web|url=https://www.lemonde.fr/economie/article/2019/09/18/l-intensite-lumineuse-outil-de-calcul-de-la-richesse_5511839_3234.html|title=L'intensité lumineuse, outil de calcul de la richesse|website=Lemonde.fr|date=18 September 2019|access-date=1 March 2022}} The Economist,{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/graphic-detail/2019/05/04/satellite-data-shed-new-light-on-north-koreas-opaque-economy|title=Satellite data shed new light on North Korea's opaque economy|date=4 May 2019|access-date=1 March 2022|newspaper=The Economist}} Financial Times,{{cite news |last1=Wigglesworth |first1=Robin |title=Illuminating Big Data will leave governments in the dark |url=https://www.ft.com/content/9e0e2038-6131-11e9-a27a-fdd51850994c |work=Financial Times |date=19 April 2019 |url-access=subscription }} Bloomberg News,{{cite news |title=Satellite Images Seen as Helpful Gauge of War-Torn Economies |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-10/imf-staff-use-satellite-data-to-better-track-war-torn-economies |work=Bloomberg.com |date=10 April 2019 |url-access=subscription }} and The Wall Street Journal.{{cite news |last1=Ip |first1=Greg |title=China's State-Driven Growth Model Is Running Out of Gas |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-state-driven-growth-model-is-running-out-of-gas-11563372006 |work=The Wall Street Journal |date=17 July 2019 }})

He has also been actively sharing his thoughts about China's economic growth via blog posts.{{Cite web|url=https://krieger.jhu.edu/financial-economics/|title=Home|website=Center for Financial Economics|date=12 January 2021 |access-date=1 March 2022}}

Hu has served as an associate editor of several leading economics journals, including Econometrics Journal, Econometrics Reviews, Frontiers of Economics in China, and Journal of Econometrics, and as a panelist of the National Science Foundation economics program. He is a member of editorial board of Journal of Systems Science and Systems Engineering. He was a co-editor (with Tom Wansbeek) of an Annals of Econometrics issue on measurement error models (a special issue of Journal of Econometrics), and a guest co-editor of China Economic Review (Virtual Special Issue: 2020 CES Conferences). Hu was a co-chair of program Committee for the 2019 China Meeting of the Econometric Society, a member of Scientific Committee of the International Symposium on Econometric Theory and Applications (SETA) from 2014 to 2017, a program committee member for the 2017 China Meeting of the Econometric Society, and a member of Board of Directors for the Chinese Economists Society.{{Cite web|url=https://www.china-ces.org/|title=The Chinese Economist Society|website=China-ces.org|access-date=1 March 2022}}

Hu was one of amici curiae in support of Students For Fair Admissions (SFFA) in the SFFA v. Harvard case, in which SFFA alleged that Harvard's undergraduate admission practices discriminated against Asian Americans, in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts, in the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, and in the Supreme Court of the United States during 2018-2023.

{{excessive examples|section|date=April 2022}}

• {{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=Yao |first2=Jiaxiong |title=Illuminating economic growth |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=June 2022 |volume=228 |issue=2 |pages=359–378 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2021.05.007 |url=http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.aspx?sk=46670 |url-access=subscription }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |title=The econometrics of unobservables: Applications of measurement error models in empirical industrial organization and labor economics |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=October 2017 |volume=200 |issue=2 |pages=154–168 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2017.06.002 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Feng |first1=Shuaizhang |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |last3=Moffitt |first3=Robert |title=Long run trends in unemployment and labor force participation in urban China |journal=Journal of Comparative Economics |date=May 2017 |volume=45 |issue=2 |pages=304–324 |doi=10.1016/j.jce.2017.02.004 |doi-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=McAdams |first2=David |last3=Shum |first3=Matthew |title=Identification of first-price auctions with non-separable unobserved heterogeneity |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=June 2013 |volume=174 |issue=2 |pages=186–193 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2013.02.005 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Feng |first1=Shuaizhang |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |title=Misclassification Errors and the Underestimation of the US Unemployment Rate |journal=American Economic Review |date=April 2013 |volume=103 |issue=2 |pages=1054–1070 |doi=10.1257/aer.103.2.1054 |hdl=10419/101366 |hdl-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Schennach |first1=S. M. |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |title=Nonparametric Identification and Semiparametric Estimation of Classical Measurement Error Models Without Side Information |journal=Journal of the American Statistical Association |date=March 2013 |volume=108 |issue=501 |pages=177–186 |doi=10.1080/01621459.2012.751872 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=Shum |first2=Matthew |title=Nonparametric identification of dynamic models with unobserved state variables |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=November 2012 |volume=171 |issue=1 |pages=32–44 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2012.05.023 |hdl=10419/49893 |hdl-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=An |first1=Yonghong |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |last3=Shum |first3=Matthew |title=Estimating first-price auctions with an unknown number of bidders: A misclassification approach |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=August 2010 |volume=157 |issue=2 |pages=328–341 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2010.02.002 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Carroll |first1=Raymond J. |last2=Chen |first2=Xiaohong |last3=Hu |first3=Yingyao |title=Identification and estimation of nonlinear models using two samples with nonclassical measurement errors |journal=Journal of Nonparametric Statistics |date=May 2010 |volume=22 |issue=4 |pages=379–399 |doi=10.1080/10485250902874688 |pmid=20495685 |pmc=2873792 }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Evans |first1=Richard W. |last2=Hu |first2=Yingyao |last3=Zhao |first3=Zhong |title=The fertility effect of catastrophe: U.S. hurricane births |journal=Journal of Population Economics |date=January 2010 |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=1–36 |doi=10.1007/s00148-008-0219-2 |hdl=10419/34380 |hdl-access=free }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |last2=Schennach |first2=Susanne M. |title=Instrumental Variable Treatment of Nonclassical Measurement Error Models |journal=Econometrica |date=January 2008 |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=195–216 |doi=10.1111/j.0012-9682.2008.00823.x }}
• {{cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Yingyao |title=Identification and estimation of nonlinear models with misclassification error using instrumental variables: A general solution |journal=Journal of Econometrics |date=May 2008 |volume=144 |issue=1 |pages=27–61 |doi=10.1016/j.jeconom.2007.12.001 }}

• Journal of Nonparametric Statistics Best Paper Award (2010){{Cite web |date=May 23, 2022 |title=Journal of Nonparametric Statistics (JNPS) Paper Awards |url=https://community.amstat.org/nonparametricstatisticssection/paper-awards}}
• The Kuznets Prize for the best published article in the Journal of Population Economics (2013){{Cite web |date=May 23, 2022 |title=Kuznets Prize |url=https://pop.merit.unu.edu/jpop/kuznets-prize/}}
• Fellow of the Journal of Econometrics (2013-){{Cite web |date= |title=Yingyao Hu's webpage |url=http://www.econ2.jhu.edu/People/Hu/ |access-date=2022-07-06 |website=Department of Economics, Johns Hopkins University}}
• The Denis J. Aigner Award for best empirical paper published in the Journal of Econometrics

in 2022-23.

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.econ2.jhu.edu/People/Hu/ Yingyao Hu's Homepage]
• {{google scholar id|IHNgJy4AAAAJ}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Yingyao}}

Category:Living people

Category:1972 births

Category:Fudan University alumni

Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni

Category:University of Texas at Austin faculty

Category:Johns Hopkins University faculty

Category:21st-century Chinese economists