Job Market Paper
- Marriage Market Signaling and Women’s Occupation Choice, Submitted
Abstract: Despite the general closure of gender disparities in the labor market over the past half century, occupational segregation has been stubbornly persistent. I develop a new model that explains these occupational outcomes through marriage market signaling. Vertically differentiated men have preference over women’s unobservable caregiving ability. Heterogenous women choose caregiving occupations to signal their ability to be caregivers. My model generates unique predictions on the influence of marriage market conditions on women’s occupational choices. I find empirical support for these predictions using longitudinal data on marriage rates, policy shocks to divorce laws, and shocks to the marriage market sex ratio driven by waves of immigration.
Publication
- Selva, A. C., Deng, Y., & Zhang, D. (2025). Covid19 and consumer animus towards Chinese products: Evidence from Amazon data. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 235, 107047.
Abstract: We tracked all facemasks sold on Amazon from Sep. 2019 to Sep. 2020 and analyzed seller-generated product information as well as user-generated reviews. Using a fully dynamic event study we found the average user rating of a facemask dropped significantly following the first consumer review or question and answer stating it was made in China, but not of other countries. This drop expanded in the first three weeks after the identification of Chinese products but then gradually faded out within twelve weeks. The U-shape post identification is explained by a review’s direct (its own rating) and indirect (other consumers’ ratings) impact on average rating and is driven by Chinese products with high reputation. By analyzing consumer reviews, we provided strong evidence that the drop in average rating was driven by consumer animus to China and Chinese products rather than product quality or shipping.
- Digital Infrastructure and Export of SMEs: Evidence from China (with Zhuoran Bai, Junliang Ge, and Yan Zhang), Accepted at Small Business Economics
Abstract: This paper shows that digital infrastructure development improves SMEs’ performance on the international market in China. Using a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DID) design and data from SMEs listed on the A-share SME and ChiNext board (2009-2020), we find that the Broadband China policy significantly boosts SME exports. On average, SMEs located in the pilot cities enjoyed a 6.3% larger increase in export-to-revenue compared to those located elsewhere. Our results are robust to the use of new DID estimators, Goodman-Bacon (2021) decomposition, Propensity Score Matching (PSM), pre-trend analysis, placebo tests, and alternative samples. The impact of the policy varies with firm size, industry, and executive team composition. The Broadband China policy promotes digital transformation of SMEs, which facilitates export through enhanced direct market access, reduced transactional costs, and alleviated financial constraints. We also provide evidence that rules out improvements in productivity or imports as drivers of the observed export expansion.
Working Papers
- Learning from International Trade: Asymmetric Cultural Transmission and Gender Discrimination (with Jiatong Zhong), Reject and Resubmit at Economic Modelling
Abstract: In this paper, I propose that international trade helps alleviate gender discrimination. With imperfect information on workers’ ability, there is statistical discrimination towards female workers. Through international trade, culture transmits asymmetrically between firms located in countries with different gender cultures. This cultural transmission benefits women because it transmits only in one direction from more gender-equal cultures to less gender-equal cultures. I prove this by linking the Customs data to the Industrial Firms data of China in 2004, and find that Chinese firms trading with more gender-equal cultures hire a higher fraction of female workers and enjoy higher profits. Similar patterns are not found in Chinese firms trading with less gender-equal cultures. The impact of cultural transmission goes beyond the firms engaged in international trade to have spillover effects onto purely domestic firms. Comparing across skill groups, cultural transmission benefits high-skill female workers more.
- Equal or Fair: Impacts of Export on Wage Distortion in China (with Yan Zhang, Zhuang Miao, and Kuo Feng), Revise and Resubmit at Review of Development Economics
Abstract: This paper studies the wage distortion and inequality between high and low-skill workers, comparing across exporters and non-exporters in China. We write a model featuring heterogeneity in firm productivity, worker skills, and firms’ export decisions. With estimated relative wage and estimated relative marginal productivity, we construct an indicator measuring the relative wage distortion between the high and low-skill workers. Using the Census data on Industrial Firms and Customs data, we find empirical evidence that is consistent with the model predictions. On average, Chinese exporters have higher wage inequality but lower wage distortion than the non-exporters. This is driven by ordinary trade firms, and we observe lower wage inequality but higher wage distortion among processing trade firms. We construct instrumental variables with tariffs based on China’s accession into WTO and the reform on trading rights in China. Our results are robust to the use of instrumental variables and propensity score matching.
Work in Progress
- Who Pays for Childcare? Social Norms, Household Spending, and the Child and Dependent Care Credit (with Timothy N. Bond)
- Product Recalls and Export Decisions of Chinese Firms (with Jiatong Zhong)
Data Experience
O*NET, National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Current Population Survey (IPUMS), Decennial Censuses (IPUMS), American Time Use Survey, Consumer Expenditure Survey, Panel Study of Income Dynamics, Amazon Data, China Customs Trade Data, Chinese Annual Survey of Industrial Firms, China Statistical Yearbook, China Census Database, General Social Survey, World Development Indicators, International Trade and Tariff Data, Annual Survey of Manufactures
Research Experience
- Research Assistant to Timothy Bond……….Fall 2020 – Summer 2022
- Research Assistant to Chong Xiang……….Fall 2021, Summer 2017 – Spring 2020
- Research Assistant to Farid Farrokhi……….Fall 2018 – Spring 2020
- Research Assistant to Yaroslav Rosokha……….Summer 2017
- Research Assistant to Yan Zhang……….Fall 2012 – Summer 2016
Danyang Zhang 