Hanyao Zhang

Hanyao Zhang

Behavioral/Experimental Economics

Welcome!

I’m Hanyao, a sixth-year PhD student in economics at Columbia University, where I have the privilege of being advised by Professor Mark Dean. I received my BA from Peking University in 2020. You can find my CV here.

I will be on the job market for the 2025-26 cycle.

I mainly work on behavioral economics, where I employ experimental methods to test theories of human decision making, especially under uncertainty.

  • Email: hanyao.zhang at columbia.edu
  • Address: 420 W 118th St., New York, NY 10027

Working Papers

  • Calculations Behind Lottery Valuations
    Abstract I introduce a novel experimental design tracking subjects' calculations when valuing lotteries. Subjects' calculations predominantly fall into three groups: expected values, linear functions of potential monetary outcomes, or expressions that cannot be matched to primitives of the lotteries. Across different tasks, the calculations exhibit remarkable within-subject stability alongside substantial between-subject heterogeneity. Calculations strongly predict valuations: subjects performing calculations related to the expected values (38.1%) exhibit near risk-neutrality, while others' (61.9%) valuations on average display extreme unresponsiveness to probability changes. Finally, an analysis by calculation group reveals that distinct theoretical mechanisms drive these behaviors: the adoption of expected-value calculations is explained by a reduction in implementation costs from the provided calculator, while attribute substitution (Kahneman and Frederick, 2002) explains the linear functions of potential monetary outcomes.

Works in Progress

  • Response Noise Structure and Risk Attitudes (draft coming soon)

  • Computation Complexity, Elicitation Methods, and Lottery Valuations, with Mark Dean (draft coming soon)

  • Reference-Dependent Motivated Beliefs, with Zhi Hao Lim

Publication