Ping Wang

Professor of Economics
NBER Research Associate: Economics of Health
Member of the Master Program Management Committee
Seigle Family Professor in Arts & Sciences
PhD, University of Rochester
research interests:
  • Growth/Development
  • Money/Macro
  • Economic Theory
  • Spatial/Health Economics
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    • Department of Economics
    • MSC 1208‐228‐308
    • Washington University in St. Louis
    • One Brookings Drive
    • St. Louis, MO 63130-4899
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    Ping Wang is presently Seigle Family Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and Research Associate at the NBER.

    Ping Wang received a Ph.D. degree in Economics from the University of Rochester in May 1987, being affiliated with Penn State University from 1987 to 1998 and with Vanderbilt from 1999 to 2005. His is presently Seigle Family Distinguished Professor of Arts and Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and Research Associate at the NBER. His major research areas include Growth and Development, Money and Macroeconomics, Economic Theory, and Spatial/Health Economics. He has published over 60 research articles in refereed journals, including American Economic Review, Review of Economic Studies, Journal of Economic Theory (4), Journal of Monetary Economics (3), International Economic Review (5), and Review of Economics and Statistics (2).

    He has supervised or co-supervised 22 Ph.D. and 4 M.A. students, visited the University of Rochester, the University of Washington, Purdue University, Tilburg University, the CORE, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, and is a frequent visiting scholar at Academia Sinica, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, the International Monetary Funds Institute, Kobe University and Kyoto University. He served as Department Chair at Vanderbilt during 2002-2005 and at Washington University in St. Louis during 2005-08, Vice President of the Chinese Economic Association in North America during 1991-92, and President of the Chinese Economic Association in North America in 2001.

    He is currently Vice President for Planning and Development of the East Asian Institute, Associate Editor for Economics Bulletin, Journal of Public Economic Theory, Pacific Economic Review and Regional Science and Urban Economics, and on the editorial and advisory boards for Journal of Macroeconomics, Taipei Economic Review, and American Association for Chinese Studies. His current research focuses primarily on: (i) micro-founded theory in growth and development, (ii) intertemporally and spatially redistributive policy, (iii) search and match models of labor/family, money/credit and technology, (iv) agglomeration of productive economic activities, (v) labor market consequences of addiction/substance abuse and health/human capital investment decisions, (vi) positive and normative analysis of crime, corruption, casinos and networks, and (vii) economic integration, outsourcing, venture capital and institutions.

    Selected Publications

    "International Business Cycles,” with (S. Ahmed, B. Ickes, and S. Yoo), American Economic Review 83 (1993), 335-359.

    “Human Capital and Endogenous Growth: Evidence from Taiwan,” (with E. Tallman), Journal of Monetary Economics34 (1994), 101-124.

    “Learning, Matching, and Growth,” (with D. Laing and T. Palivos), Review of Economic Studies 62 (1995), 115-129.

    “A General Two-Sector Model of Endogenous Growth with Human and Physical Capital: Balanced Growth and Transitional Dynamics,” (with E. Bond and C. Yip), Journal of Economic Theory 68 (1996), 149-173.

    “Production Externalities and Urban Configuration,” (with M. Berliant and S. Peng), Journal of Economic Theory 104 (2002), 275-303.

    “Educational Policy in a Credit Constrained Economy with Skill Heterogeneity,” (with J. Fender), International Economic Review 44 (2003), 939-964.

    “The Economics of New Blood,” (with D. Laing and T. Palivos), Journal of Economic Theory 112 (2003), 106-156.

    “Economic Integration and Agglomeration in a Middle Product Economy,” (with S. Peng and J. Thisse), Journal of Economic Theory 131 (2006), 1-25.

    “Inflation, Time Allocation and Welfare in a Multiple-Matching Model of Money,” (with D. Laing and V. Li), Journal of Monetary Economics 54 (2007), 1949-1961.

    “Public Policy and Human Capital Accumulation in an Endogenously Growing Economy with Labor-Market Frictions,” (with B. Chen and H. Chen), International Economic Review (forthcoming).

    Awards

    1981, Best Economics Masters Thesis Award

    1998-2001, NIAAA Grant (1R01-AA11657-01,02), National Institute of Health, $191,931.00

    2005, Best Research Paper Award by the Society of Industrial Economics

    2005, Member of Phi Tau Phi Honorary Society

    2008, Academician (Elected National Fellow, Academia Sinica, Taiwan)

    2009, Hou-Teh Honorary Chair (National Tsinghua University)

    2009, University Honorary Chair (National Chengchi University)