Research interests

Health economics, Applied microeconometrics

Publications on peer-reviewed journals

  • “Labor Migration and Health of Left-behind Children in China” (with Lianlian Lei and Elaine Hill), Journal of Development Studies, (2018), 54(1):93-110.
  • “One-child policy and childhood obesity” (with Jie Zhang and Peng Xu), China Economic Review, (2017), doi:10.1016/j.chieco.2016.05.003.
  • “The Effects of Workplace Clean Indoor Air Law Coverage on Workers’ Smoking-Related Outcomes” (with Kai-Wen Cheng, MariaElena Gonzalez, and Stanton Glantz), Health Economics, (2017), 26(2):226–242.
  • “Retrospective and Prospective Benefit-Cost Analysis of US Anti-Smoking Policies” (with Lawrence Jin, Don Kenkel, and Hua Wang), Journal of Benefit-Cost Analysis, (2015), 6(1):154–186.
  • “Reservation Prices: An Economic Analysis of Cigarette Purchases on Indian Reservations” (with Phil DeCicca and Don Kenkel), National Tax Journal, (2015), 68(1):93-118.
  • “Excise Tax Avoidance: The Case of State Cigarette Taxes” (with Phil DeCicca and Don Kenkel), Journal of Health Economics, (2013), 32(6):1130-1141.
  • “Who Pays Cigarette Taxes? The Impact of Consumer Price Search” (with Phil DeCicca and Don Kenkel), Review of Economics and Statistics (2013), 95(2):516-529.
  • “Maternal Employment and Childhood Obesity: A Search for Mechanisms in Time Use Data” (with John Cawley), Economics and Human Biology (2012),10(4):352-364.
  • “Is the Demand for Alcoholic Beverages in Developing Countries Sensitive to Price? Evidence from China”(with Guoqiang Tian), International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2011), 8(6):2124-2131.
  • “Quit Attempts and Intention to Quit Cigarette Smoking among Medicaid Recipients in the United States”, Public Health (2010), 124(10):553-558.
  • “Reduced Smoking and Rising Obesity: Does Smoking Restriction in Workplace Matter?” (with Ning Zhang, Kai-Wen Cheng, and Hua Wang), Economics Letters (2010), 108(3):249-252.
  • “Cutting through the Smoke: Separating the Effect of Price on Smoking Initiation, Relapse and Cessation” Applied Economics (2010), 42(23): 2921-2939.
  • “Effect of Medicaid Coverage of Tobacco-Dependence Treatments on Smoking Cessation” International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (2009), 6(12):3143-3155.
  • “An Analysis of Life-Course Smoking Behavior in China” (with Don Kenkel and Dean Lillard), Health Economics (2009), 18(S2): S147–S156.
  • “Correlates of State Legislative Action to Address Childhood Obesity” (with John Cawley), Obesity (2008), 16(1): 162–167.

Working papers

  • “Fluoride Pollution and Health: Empirical Evidence from China” (with Youhong Lin), 2017.
  • “Unemployment Insurance and Cigarette Smoking” (with Wei Fu), 2017.
  • “Dynamic Links between Socioeconomic Status and Obesity in China” (with Hui Cao and Francesca Hansstein), 2014.
  • “Errors in retrospective data on smoking: comparing maximum likelihood and ad hoc approaches” (with Don Kenkel and Joe LeCates), 2011.
  • “The Evolution of the Schooling-Smoking Gradient” (with Don Kenkel), 2009.
  • “Mechanisms for the Association Between Maternal Employment and Child Cognitive Development” (with John Cawley), NBER Working Paper 13609, 2007.