Iam a PhD candidate in the Department of Economics at USI. I received my bachelor’s degree in financial engineering from 武漢大學 (WHU) in 2014 and a research master’s in finance from 中國社會科學院研究生院 (GSCASS) in 2019, where I studied at the Institute of Finance and Banking. That training sparked my lasting interest in China’s financial development and economic policy. I then earned a master’s degree in economics from 香港科大商學院 (HKUST Business School) in 2020 and another master’s degree in economics and finance from Barcelona School of Economics (UPF) in 2021 with a full tuition waiver. I was a visiting scholar in the Finance Department at the Wharton School (UPenn), from January to June 2025, hosted by Prof. Sylvain Catherine.
I am a financial economist working in household finance. I study how people’s experiences and memories shape the financial decisions they make today, and how earnings opportunities and institutions influence their saving, investing, and trading.
Research
My research connects households’ financial choices to their past experiences, the risks and opportunities they face, and the rules governing their decisions. I combine household panels and transaction records with models of memory and market exchange, paying close attention to what observed choices and survey responses can tell us. My interest in China’s financial development and policy also motivates work on housing markets, school rights, and the legacy of industrialization.
Experience and memory
How do past outcomes shape current financial choices? I study how memories of gains and losses guide investors’ selling decisions, and how labor-market conditions at entry relate to households’ later saving priorities. These projects connect personal histories to both investment behavior and the purposes households attach to saving.
Earnings risk and preference measurement
Which features of earnings prospects and stated preferences help explain financial choices? My job market paper separates upside earnings opportunities from downside risk in portfolio entry. Related work asks what repeated preference questions add to predictions of household wealth, and how the answer depends on response coding and information already observed.
Institutions and household adjustment
How do institutional rules change the costs of working, moving, and trading? I study earnings adjustment around social insurance mandates, retirement cash-outs after job endings, and housing exchange when a sale changes school rights. My China research also examines how valuation information relates to housing liquidity and how industrial development relates to household formation.
→ household finance, policy, and market exchange
Fields of Interest
Primary
- Household Finance
- Behavioral Finance
- Asset Pricing
Secondary
- Chinese Economy
- Urban Economics
- Labor Economics
References
- Lorenz Kueng Institute of Economics (IdEP), USI · Swiss Finance Institute lorenz.kueng@usi.ch
- Jessica Wachter Department of Finance, The Wharton School · University of Pennsylvania jwachter@wharton.upenn.edu
- Alberto Plazzi Institute of Finance (IFin), USI · Swiss Finance Institute alberto.plazzi@usi.ch
News & Forthcoming
- T−-- DAYS UEA Summer School at LSE May 11–13, 2026
- T−-- DAYS SFS Cavalcade North America, University of Virginia May 18–21, 2026
- T−-- DAYS GLO Guangzhou 2026, IESR Jul 9–10, 2026
- T−-- DAYS Rising Scholar Conference in Finance, University of Zurich Sep 9, 2026