School of Economics

Dr Yu Zhu

Profilephoto

Reader in Labour Economics

Office: B1.05 Keynes
Telephone: +44 (0) 1227 827438
Email: Yu Zhu
Consultation hours: Tue 15:00-16:00; Thu 16:00-17:00

Yu Zhu is Reader in Labour Economics. After completing his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Economics at University of Oslo, Yu became a Research Economist at Statistics Norway prior to moving to the UK in 1994. He attained his PhD from Cambridge in 1998 and became a Research Officer at Keele University working on issues associated with child support, and then moved to University of Warwick in 1999. He joined the University of Kent in 2002 as Lecturer and was promoted to Reader in 2011.

Research

Research interests

Yu's main research interests include the economics of education, family economics, and applied microeconometrics. He has been a Research Associate of the Centre for the Economics of Education (CEE) at the London School of Economics since 2003.

Yu's RePEc page is http://econpapers.repec.org/RAS/pzh138.htm

Current work

Working papers

  • Zhu, Y., Wu, Z., Peng, L. and L. Sheng, 2008. Where Did All the Remittances Go? Understanding the Impact of Remittances on Consumption Patterns in Rural China. Presented to the European Society for Population Economics (ESPE) 2008 conference at UCL.
  • Zhu, Y., Wu, Z., Wang, M., Du, Y. and F. Cai, 2008. Do Migrants Really Save More? The Impact of Remittances on Savings in Rural China. Presented to the Work Pensions and Labour Economics Study Group (WPEG) 2008 conference in Sheffield.
  • Piracha, M. and Y. Zhu, 2007. Precautionary Savings by Natives and Immigrants in Germany. IZA DP No. 2942.
  • Green, F. and Y. Zhu, 2007. Overqualification, Job Dissatisfaction, and Increasing Dispersion in the Returns to Graduate Education. CEP-MHRL DP 005 (also as Kent Discussion Paper 08/03).
  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2008. Child Support and Educational Outcomes: Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey. Kent Discussion Paper 08/11. Presented to the Royal Economic Society (RES) 2007 conference in Warwick.
  • Green, F., Machin, S., Murphy, R. and Y. Zhu, 2007. Changing Returns to Independent Education in Britain. Presented at the European Association of Labour Economists (EALE) 2007 conference in Oslo, Norway.
  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2007. Do Fathers Really Matter? Or Is It Just Their Money that Matters? – Unpicking the Effects of Separation on Educational Outcomes’, UCD Geary Institute WP 2007/22.
  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2006. Do Fathers Really Matter? Or Is It Just Their Money that Matters? – Unpicking the Effects of Divorce on Child Subjective Well-being’, mimeo.
  • Munro, A., Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2006. Ostensible Hypothecation: the Effect of Cash Transfers to the Elderly on Domestic Fuel Expenses. Presented at the IZA Workshop on ‘the Well-Being of the Elderly - Income, Consumption, and Health: Cross-Country Perspectives’, in Bonn in May, 2006.
  • Blow, L., Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2006. Who Benefits from Child Benefit? Warwick Economic Research Papers, No. 749.

Publications

Selected Articles in Refereed Journals

  • Green, F., Machin, S., Murphy, R. and Y. Zhu, accepted. The Changing Advantage from Private Schools, Economica.
  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, forthcoming 2011. Differences by Degree: Evidence of the Net Financial Rates of Return to Undergraduate Study for England and Wales. Economics of Education Review (available online). 10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.01.002.
  • Blow, L., Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, in press. Who Benefits from Child Benefit? Economic Inquiry (Early View).
  • Green, F. and Y. Zhu, 2010. Overqualification, Job Dissatisfaction, and Increasing Dispersion in the Returns to Graduate Education. Oxford Economic Papers 62 (4), 740-763.
  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2008. The College Wage Premium and the Expansion of Higher Education in the UK. Scandinavian Journal of Economics 110 (4), 695–709.
  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2006. Child Support and Partnership Dissolution. Economic Journal 116, C93-C109.
  • Chevalier, A., Harmon, C., Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2004. Does Education Raise Productivity, or just Reflect It? Economic Journal 114, F499-F517.
  • Zhu, Y., 2002. Latent Total Consumption Expenditure, Unobservable Individual Preferences and Panel Data. Economic Modelling 19 (2), 277-293.
  • Aaberge, R. and Y. Zhu, 2001. Pattern of Household Savings during a Hyperinflation: The Case of Urban China in the Late 1980s. Review of Income and Wealth 47 (2), 181-202.
  • Paull, G, Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2000. Child Support Reform: Some Analysis of the 1999 White Paper. Fiscal Studies 21 (1), 105-140.

Selected Articles in Policy Journals and Official Reports

  • Kossykh,Y., Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2008. Child Support and Work Incentives: Prospective Effects of a Larger Disregard in the Income Support System. Department for Work and Pensions Report, No. 493.
  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2003. Education, Earnings and Productivity. Labour Market Trends 111, 145-152.
  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, 2001. The Returns to Education: Evidence from the Labour Force Survey. Department for Education and Skills (DfES) Research Report, No.313.


(For details of journal articles and working papers, see http://econpapers.repec.org/RAS/pzh138.htm).

Book chapters

  • Walker, I. and Y. Zhu, forthcoming 2011. Do Dads Matter? Or Is It Just their Money that Matters? Unpicking the Effects of Separation on Educational Outcomes. In J. A. Molina (ed.) Household Economic Behaviors. Springer Science International Series on Consumer Science.

Teaching

Undergraduate

Postgraduate

PhD supervision

Current students

  • Mr Javier Valbuena: Topics in Economics of Education.
  • Miss Amrita Saraogi: Topics in International Migration.

Past students

  • Dr Florin Vadean: "Essays in international migration and migrants' remittances", completed 2010
  • Dr Fanwell Bokosi: "Impact of Trade Liberalisation on Poverty in Malawi", completed 2007.
  • Dr Gerado Angeles: "Economic Liberalisation and Income Distribution", completed 2007.

Administrative roles

  • Director of Studies and Chief Examiner (Stage 3)

School of Economics, Keynes College, University of Kent, Canterbury, Kent, CT2 7NP

Undergraduate enquiries: +44 (0) 1227 827497, Postgraduate enquiries: +44 (0) 1227 827440 or email us

Last Updated: 05/12/2011