I was born and raised in Nanning, GuangXi Zhuang Automomous Region, China. Thanks to the one-child policy, I was free to be a quiet bookworm growing up. I was not the best student in school, since I spent much of my time reading extracurricula materials such as The Social Contract and The Wealth of Nations. Now that I think of it, that’s probably where my interest in economics sprouted.
Migrating to the U.S. for college was a tough decision. My parents definitely wanted their daughter around, but they also understood for a child who’s considered “too individualistic” in her hometown could use a break imersed in a different culture. So here I was, 19 years old, arrived at Boston University only a few months after the tragic bombing in 2013.
BU has been my home since then. The mutally-supportive and academically vibrant environment help me get out of my shell and I’ve made so many friends from different parts of the world. That’s why I stay at BU for the Master’s program, and for the Ph.D. program as well. I love to tell the joke about BU kids being like Boston terriers: not the sharpest pencil in the box, but always enthusiastic and ready to help. It’s true.
Coming back to economics… as a microeconomist, I see economics as a subject focusing on understanding human behavior around choices. And the more we get to know these behaviors, either coming from the entire population or from various subgroups, the better us economists can come up with policy measures to help. Apart from policy implications, the other half of my passion in economics is based on, simply, curiosity. Using my scholarly skills, I can tap into human conditions that are much different from my own. I want to know what motivates them, what cheers them up and what pushes them down.
In my free time, I crochet/knit, sing in showers, take pictures for every little excitement in life, and oh! I have a cat! His name is Jorah Simon Stripesalot. Jorah says hello:
