Over the summer, Assistant Professor Yuehao Bai moved to Ann Arbor with his wife and will begin teaching ECON 672 and ECON 677 winter term. Originally from Xian, China, Professor Bai received his Bachelor of Economics from Tsinghua University, and his Ph.D. in Economics from The University of Chicago.

Drawn to the University by its stellar economics department, he is thrilled to be on campus. “Ann Arbor is a much better place to live than Hyde Park, and campus is so large -- like 10 times the size of the University of Chicago!”

Interested in econometrics, much of Professor Bai’s current research concerns treatment effects in both experimental and observational settings. In a recent paper, he characterized the optimal way to stratify, or group, units in randomized experiments. “Experiments have become very popular in economics as a way to study the effect of treatments/programs and my paper studies how to estimate treatment effects as precisely as possible, or to minimize the cost of the experiment to reach a given precision.”

Professor Bai is teaching a first-year economics course, and a second-year applied econometrics class. “I hope students understand the assumptions and mechanics under each method that  we study, and develop a framework in which they can evaluate the econometric methods used in applied work.” He will also be advising students and is looking forward to the experience. “I enjoy having detailed and technical conversation with my colleagues and students because it is a great way to learn. Ideally, both the student and I learn new things while tackling problems together.”

If you want to read more about Professor Bai, click here.