Academic Appointments

2023-

Professor @ Department of Economics, Harvard University

Director @ Center for History and Economics, Harvard University

2022-2022

Associate Professor @ Department of Economics, Harvard University

2020-2022

Assistant Professor @ Department of Economics, Harvard University

2018-2020

Prize Fellow @ Joint Center for History and Economics, Harvard

Postdoctoral Fellow @ J-PAL, MIT

Job Openings

Part-time research assistants

If interested, please email me a coverletter.

Postdoctoral fellow

See [here] for details; deadline: Jan 16, 2024.

Publications

Government as Venture Capitalists in AI

Martin Beraja, Wenwei Peng, David Y. Yang & Noam Yuchtman

Forthcoming, Entrepreneurship and Innovation Policy and the Economy, Vol. 4 (edited by Benjamin Jones and Josh Lerner)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (July 2024)]

Policy Experimentation in China: the Political Economy of Policy Learning

Shaoda Wang, David Y. Yang

Forthcoming, Journal of Political Economy

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (May 2024)] [NBER WP (October 2021)]
Media coverage: [Economist]

Protests

Davide Cantoni, Andrew Kao, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

Forthcoming, Annual Review of Economics

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (August 2023)]

AI-tocracy

Martin Beraja, Andrew Kao, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol.138, No.3 (August 2023)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (October 2022)]
Media coverage: [NYTimes] [CSIS] [Harvard Gazette] [IEEE Spectrum]

Data-intensive Innovation and the State: Evidence from AI Firms in China

Martin Beraja, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

Review of Economic Studies, Vol.90, No.4 (July 2023)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Final draft (January 2022)] [NBER WP (August 2021)]

Civil Liberties in Times of Crisis

Marcella Alsan, Luca Bragheri, Sarah Eichmeyer, Minjeong Joyce Kim, Stefanie Stantcheva, David Y. Yang

Forthcoming, American Economic Journal: Applied Economics

[Show/hide abstract]
[Final draft (December 2022)] [NBER WP (August 2022)]
Media coverage: [AEA]

The Fundamental Determinants of Protest Participation: Evidence from Hong Kong's Antiauthoritarian Movement

Davide Cantoni, Louis-Jonas Heizlsperger, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman, Y. Jane Zhang

Journal of Public Economcis, Vol.211 (July 2022)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Published version] [Final draft (April 2022)]
Media coverage: [South China Morning Post]

Misperceptions about Others

Leonardo Bursztyn, David Y. Yang

Annual Review of Economics, Vol.14 (August 2022)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Published version] [Final draft (August 2021)] [NBER WP (August 2021)]

Persistent Political Engagement: Social Interactions and the Dynamics of Protest Movements

Leonardo Bursztyn, Davide Cantoni, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman, Y. Jane Zhang

American Economic Review: Insights, Vol.3, No.2 (June 2021)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Published version][Final draft (March 2020)]

Polarization and Public Health: Partisan Differences in Social Distancing during the Coronavirus Pandemic

Hunt Allcott, Levi Boxell, Jacob Conway, Matthew Gentzkow, Michael Thaler, David Y. Yang

Journal of Public Economics, Vol.191 (November 2020)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Published version][Final draft (July 2020)] [NBER WP]
Media coverage: [CNN] [New York Times] [Wired] [Mother Jones] [Reuters] [LA Times] [FiveThirtyEight] [USA Today] [Newsweek]

Disparities in Coronavirus 2019 Reported Incidence, Knowledge, and Behavior Among US Adults

Marcella Alsan, Stefanie Stantcheva, David Y. Yang, David Cutler

Journal of American Medical Association (Network Open), 3(6):e2012403 (June 2020)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Published version]

The Impact of Media Censorship: 1984 or Brave New World?

Yuyu Chen, David Y. Yang

American Economic Review, Vol.109, No.6 (June 2019)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Published version] [Final draft (December 2018)]
Media coverage: [New York Times] [AEA Research Highlights] [Stanford SCCEI]

Protests as Strategic Games: Experimental Evidence from Hong Kong's Anti-Authoritarian Movement

Davide Cantoni, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman, Y. Jane Zhang

Quarterly Journal of Economics, Vol.134, No.2 (May 2019)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Published version] [Final draft (October 2018)] [NBER WP (January 2017)]

Curriculum and Ideology

Davide Cantoni, Yuyu Chen, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman, Y. Jane Zhang

Journal of Political Economy, Vol.125, No.2 (April 2017)

[Show/hide abstract]
[Published version] [Final draft (October 2015)] [Previous draft (April 2014)]
Media coverage: [Economist] [Bloomberg View] [Foreign Policy] [Deutsche Welle (Chinese)]

Working Papers

Emigration during Turbulent Times

Kaicheng Luo, David Y. Yang, Benjamin Olken

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (July 2024)]

Appropriate Entrepreneurship? The Rise of China and the Developing World

Josh Lerner, Junxi Liu, Jacob Moscona, David Y. Yang

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (Feburary 2024)]

Exporting the Surveillance State via Trade in AI

Martin Beraja, Andrew Kao, Noam Yuchtman, David Y. Yang

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (September 2023)]
Media coverage: [Brookings] [Wired]

Persistence Despite Revolutions

Alberto Alesina, Marlon Seror, David Y. Yang, Yang You, Weihong Zeng

Revision requested, Review of Economic Studies

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (August 2022)] [NBER WP (March 2021)]
Media coverage: [NBER Digest] [Economist]

Issue Salience and Political Stereotypes

Pedro Bordalo, Marco Tabellini, David Y. Yang

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (January 2021)] [NBER WP (January 2021)]

Historical Traumas and the Roots of Political Distrust: Political Inference from the Great Chinese Famine

Yuyu Chen, David Y. Yang

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (October 2019)]

China's Lost Generation: Changes in Beliefs and their Intergenerational Transmission

Gerard Roland, David Y. Yang

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (August 2017)] [NBER WP]

Salience of History and the Preference for Redistribution

Yuyu Chen, Hui Wang, David Y. Yang

[Show/hide abstract]
[Current draft (July 2017)]

Policy Articles

China's rise reshaped global entrepreneurship and expanded the benefits of innovation

Josh Lerner, Junxi Liu, Jacob Moscona, David Y. Yang

voxDev column (March 2024) [Link]

How the surveillance state is exported through trade in AI

Martin Beraja, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

voxDev column (October 2023) [Link]

Autocratic AI dystopias: From science fiction to social science fact

Martin Beraja, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

voxDev column (May 2023) [Link]

Curriculum and ideology: Evidence from China

Davide Cantoni, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

CEPR Book Series: Nation Building: Big Lessons from Successes and Failures (Feb 2023) [Link]

The political economy of policy learning: evidence from China

Shaoda Wang, David Y. Yang

voxDev column (Feburary 2022) [Link]

Autocratic AI dystopias: From science fiction to social science fact

Martin Beraja, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

voxEU column (December 2021) [Link]

Issue salience and political stereotypes

Pedro Bordalo, Marco Tabellini, David Y. Yang

voxEU column (January 2021) [Link]

Civil liberties during the COVID-19 pandemic

Marcella Alsan, Luca Braghieri, Sarah Eichmeyer, Minjeong Joyce Kim, Stefanie Stantcheva, David Y. Yang

voxEU column (November 2020) [Link]

Civil liberties in times of crisis

David Y. Yang

Pandemic Times (November 2020) [Link]

Data-intensive innovation and the state: understanding China’s AI leadership

Martin Beraja, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

VoxChina column (September 2020) [Link]

The impact of media censorship in China: 1984 or Brave New World?

David Y. Yang

voxDev column (May 2018) [Link]

Power to the people? China's policy trilemma in Hong Kong

Davide Cantoni, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman

London School of Economics Management Blog (October 2017) [Link]

Cultural change and intergenerational transmission: Some lessons from China's Cultural Revolution

Gerard Roland, David Y. Yang

voxEU column (August 2017) [Link]

Curriculum and ideology

Davide Cantoni, Yuyu Chen, David Y. Yang, Noam Yuchtman, Y. Jane Zhang

voxEU column (May 2014) [Link]

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