Students

Job Market Candidates 2024-25

REN, Yuexuan
Fields: Econometrics Theory, Financial Econometrics
Job Market Paper: "Conformal Prediction for High-Frequency Event Studies"
References: Jia Li, Peter Phillips, Yichong Zhang, Jun Yu

SONG, Yunlong
Fields: International Trade, Spatial Economics, Urban and Regional Economics
Job Market Paper: "Physical and Human Capital Accumulation in a Spatial Economy"
References: Lin Ma, Jing Li, Yuan Mei, Yang Tang

WANG, Kexin
Fields: Microeconomic Theory, Mechanism Design, Industrial Organization, Digital Economy
Job Market Paper: "Robust Contracting under Distributional Uncertainty”
References: Jiangtao Li, Jingyi Xue, Wei He,Tilman Börgers

WANG, Yutao
Fields: Labor Economics, Development Economics, Applied Microeconomics, Economics of the Family, Economics of Gender
Job Market Paper: "Social Institutions and Low Birth Rates”
References: Christine Ho, Sunha Myong, Tomoki Fujii

ZHU, Xiaofan
Fields: Development Economics, Economics of Education, Political Economy
Job Market Paper: "Educational Decisions in the Shadow of Cronyism: An Empirical Study of College Graduates in China”
References: Fali Huang, Seonghoon Kim, Sunha Myong

PROGRAMME DIRECTOR

Zhang Yichong
Assoc. Prof of Economics
Assoc. Dean (Postgraduate Research)
Tel: +65 6828 0881
Email: yczhang@smu.edu.sg

JOB MARKET MATERIALS

Job Market Candidate Summary
Job Market CV Packet 2024-25

Graduate Student Office

Ms Thor Qiu Ling
Senior Manager
Tel: +65 6828 0239
Email: qlthor@smu.edu.sg

Rohan Ray

The five years at SMU School of Economics, as a doctoral student have been extremely enriching and rewarding. A comprehensive coursework in Year 1 followed by a wide range of electives to choose from in Year 2 helped me narrow down on my area of interest and better understand what kind of research questions I might be keen on answering. Besides active engagement in quality research through various workshops and seminars, SMU also pays adequate attention to interpersonal and teaching skills of its doctoral students, who are given responsibility to teach full undergraduate modules. The school boasts of a faculty that is extremely competent and well-published in their respective fields and is always willing to hear about your research and provide necessary guidance. Overall, the training that I underwent during my PhD candidature at SMU was indeed holistic and has helped me become a better researcher.

Chen Renjing

The PhD in Economics programme offers me an opportunity to learn from and communicate with professional scholars. The faculty and staff have always been glad to provide valuable guidance and unwavering support in my research. The training and feedback from my supervisor and other committee members urged me to sharpen my thinking capabilities, which brought the quality of my work to a higher level. The benefit I have obtained from the programme was not just the high-quality papers, I have also learned from my professors that, to build an academic career, it is important to keep learning, build the core competitiveness, and have a healthy work-life balance. I am grateful for the tremendous help from my professors and the programme.

He Qiugu

The SMU PhD programme has changed my life. When I began my PhD study, I was quite familiar with concepts from textbooks. But I did not know how to use these concepts to conduct research. Thanks to the faculty in SMU, they introduced me to various interesting research fields. My supervisor XU Jianhuan guided me to think about deep questions in the right way, and it helped to improve my thesis writing skill. Finally, the comments from my committee and other scholars helped to improve my understanding about the world. It is quite an interesting experience. We PhD students also helped each other and discuss interesting topics, which ease up the research pressure. For students pursuing economic research, I sincerely recommend the programme. The wise faculty, efficient staff, and the funding will support you to focus on your own research.

Feng Ji

The PhD in Economics programme provides a wonderful opportunity to receive comprehensive and rigorous training. In this programme, everyone can stretch the research ideas to their full potentials because of strong support from the faculty member and staff from the School of Economics. I feel very lucky to be a qualified researcher under the help and supervision of these professors. The programme also enables us to shape ourselves based on our research interests.

Wang Liyao

During the five years at SMU School of Economics, many people have had an influence on my personal development and helped me to be a better person. The first year’s core courses laid a solid foundation for future research in Economics. Thereafter, we had adequate flexibility to explore the research topics of our own interests. The faculty members are very passionate and willing to share their ideas and opinions about the frontier of their research fields.  The school also has regular seminars, workshops, and study groups, which help us to refresh our minds regularly. On top of that, SMU also offers sufficient supports for PhD students to attend various academic activities. When I started my PhD study, I had fuzzy understanding about economics as an academic discipline but looking back, I find that I had a fruitful academic journey. I am grateful to the precious experience in SMU and will miss the time here.

Miao Ke

I studied econometrics theory under the supervision of Professor Su Liangjun. Five years at the school of Economics in SMU has been a wonderful experience. I am grateful to the faculty members for their kind guidance and the staff for providing excellent support in administrative matters. The well-structured curriculum and conducive research environment trains students to be competent researchers. Courses in different fields taught by knowledgeable faculty members will inspire you to find your interest. You can always find faculty who are happy to hear about your research and provide kind guidance. Besides, the School of Economics holds many excellent seminars and conferences, in which you can learn from top researchers around the world. SMU also provides funds to encourage students to attend international conferences.

Zheng Xin

The programme has equipped me with the skills to be a competent researcher. With mentorship from the faculty members, I learnt how to discover, analyze and solve problems. I really enjoyed the academic and learning atmosphere at the School of Economics; it is diverse, open, and professional. The faculty, staff, and PhD students here form a big, close knitted family. The programme gave me strong foundation in econometrics with lots of advanced courses in almost every subfields of econometrics: time series, panel data analysis, spatial econometrics, nonparametric econometrics, etc. Reading groups and workshops for PhD students gave me great insight in the frontier of research. There are also many high-level seminars with talented speakers from all over the world. I love the campus, which is located at the heart of Singapore with so many beautiful attractions surrounding the campus, taking a walk nearby is a great experience after a day’s work.

Fei Yijie

Joining SMU PhD in Economics programme is one of the best choices I have ever made. The programme structure here is well-designed for PhD students who wish to learn frontier knowledge in all fields of economics. The programme offers a diverse range of courses for students to choose from. These advanced courses help students to lay solid foundation before starting their own research. The professors are always approachable and encouraging. They are willing to make every effort to help students, not only on research, but also on job hunting. Research workshops and seminars by leading scholars from all over the world are so frequent that we can always be exposed to latest contributions in the fields we are interested in. For those who are considering pursuing an academic career, I sincerely recommend SMU PhD in Economics programme.

Chay Junxing

My experience studying at SMU was excellent overall. The SMU PhD in Economics Program is well structured and provides a good foundation to understand and make meaningful contributions to the latest economics knowledge. The faculty members are supportive and have deep expertise that students can tap on. In addition to its focus on training good researchers, the programme also provides opportunities to develop critical soft skills such as academic writing, presenting and teaching. Looking back at my postgraduate journey, I am glad to have done my PhD at SMU.

Xu Yuhong

My 5 years in SMU PhD in Economics programme has been a great and unique experience. The programme provides world-class, rigorous research training. The regular seminars conducted by people from different universities and with different research interests, provided a great platform for discussions and idea generation. What I like most about this programme is the wonderful community; the faculty are very professional and provided useful suggestions, instructions and guidance throughout my PhD years. Their patience, kindness and understanding has impressed and helped me a lot in my research. I want to express my deepest gratitude to all the people in this programme. The help and encouragement received has made my research journey more rewarding than I could have ever imagined.