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Weili Ding

Queen’s University, Canada, and NYU Shanghai, China

IZA World of Labor fills an important gap among academic journals by encouraging articles that translate recent research findings from the academic world for policymakers and broader audiences. I am delighted to participate in this innovative initiative

IZA World of Labor role

Author

Current position

Associate Professor, School of Policy Studies and Department of Economics, Queen’s University, Canada; Associate Professor of Economics, FAS, NYU Shanghai, China

Research interest

Economics of education, health economics, public economics, rural developments and urban transitions in China

Website

http://econ.queensu.ca/faculty/dingw/

Past positions

Project 985 Visiting Scholar, Institute of the Economics of Education, Beijing Normal University, China; Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Population Studies Center, University of Michigan, USA; Assistant Professor, School of Policy Studies and Department of Economics, Queen’s University, Canada

Qualifications

PhD Economics, University of Pittsburgh, 2002

Selected publications

  • "Do peers affect student achievement in China’s secondary schools?" The Review of Economics and Statistics 89:2 (2007): 300–312 (with S. F. Lehrer).

  • "The impact of poor health on academic performance: New evidence using genetic markers." Journal of Health Economics 28:3 (2009): 578–597 (with S. F. Lehrer, J. N. Rosenquist, and J. Audrain-McGovern).

  • "Estimating treatment effects from contaminated multi-period education experiments: The dynamic impacts of class size reductions." Review of Economics and Statistics 92:1 (2010): 31–42 (with S. F. Lehrer).

  • "Accounting for time-varying unobserved ability heterogeneity within education production functions." Economics of Education Review 40:1 (2014): 55–75 (with S. F. Lehrer).

  • "When a son is born: The impact of fertility patterns on family finance in rural China." China Economic Review 30:C (2014): 192–208 (with Y. Zhang).

article(s)

  • What is the role for molecular genetic data in public policy?

    There is potential value from incorporating genetic data in the design of effective public policy, but also some risks

    Weili DingSteven F. Lehrer, October 2017
    Both the availability and sheer volume of data sets containing individual molecular genetic information are growing at a rapid pace. Many argue that these data can facilitate the identification of genes underlying important socio-economic outcomes, such as educational attainment and fertility. Opponents often counter that the benefits are as yet unclear, and that the threat to individual privacy is a serious one. The initial exploration presented herein suggests that significant benefits to the understanding of socio-economic outcomes and the design of both social and education policy may be gained by effectively and safely utilizing genetic data.
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