MSU Economics is pleased to welcome Professor Guangbin Hong, who is joining the department's faculty after receiving his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Toronto and completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Mansueto Institute of Urban Innovation and the Kenneth C. Griffin Department of Economics at the University of Chicago.
“I look forward to interacting with the outstanding and diverse faculty group in the department,” Professor Hong said. “I also look forward to teaching the graduate students about the cutting-edge methods in my research fields.”
He will be teaching the numerical analysis graduate course in the fall and the survey of international economics undergraduate course in the spring.
Professor Hong’s research focuses on urban economics and international trade.
“I have examined how the location choices of workers and firms influence wage inequality across cities, how multinational corporations’ tax planning strategies affect total economic output and corporate tax revenues, and how larger firms' production technology differ from others' and why it matters. Methodologically, my research combines empirical analysis with structuralmodeling. This combination allows me to connect micro-level behavior to broader market-level outcomes and to evaluate the potential impacts of different policy choices.”
Professor Hong became interested in this research because he has always been fascinated by the economic disparities across regions and countries.
“Why has Silicon Valley emerged as a global hub of innovation while many manufacturing towns in the U.S. have declined? Why is production becoming increasingly concentrated in a few locations and dominated by a small set of superstar firms? These questions anchor my research. I aim to combine rich data with rigorous theory to uncover the drivers behind these phenomena and to generate credible, policy-relevant insights.”
For the future of his research, Professor Hong is looking to leverage the surge of new micro-datasets in the field, such as high-frequency location data based on GPS records, scanner data on commodity prices and web-scrapped data on housing rents.
“I would like to integrate such datasets in my own research to uncover more aspects of the urban environment,” he said. “I very much welcome collaborations with faculty members and graduate students to work on this front.”
Collaboration was key in his decision to choose MSU.
“I chose MSU primarily because of the outstanding research faculty,” he said. “Many faculty members share research interests that closely align with mine, which I believe will create great opportunities for collaboration.”
On a personal note, Professor Hong shared his interests in beer and growing plants.
“I am a beer fan, I like to check out local breweries whenever I visit a new city, and I would like to have my home brew one day,” he said. “Earlier this year, I also started to germinate fruit seeds, and I already have three avocado trees growing at my apartment.”
Please join us in welcoming Professor Hong to our department!