Hello! Welcome to my webpage. 

I am a Ph.D. candidate in Economics at University of Wisconsin-Madison. My research interests lie in labor economics and macroeconomics, with a particular focus on frictional labor markets and search models. I combine reduced-form methods with structural modeling in my research.

Email: mwan9@wisc.edu

My CV is available here. 

Working Papers

Health Capital, Labor Market Frictions, and Wage Inequality

Presentation: CES China Annual Conference (2025), Economics Graduate Student Conference (2025), Midwest Macroeconomics Meeting (2025), Annual Meetings of the Midwest Economics Association (2026, scheduled), Society of Labor Economists Annual Meeting (2026, scheduled)

From Gig to Guardrails: The Impact of Employee-Like Protections on Ride-hailing Supply and Earnings 

(with Jingwei Dai, Chad Ho, and Jinan Lin)

Presentation: "The Micro and Macro Perspective of the Labor Market" Reading Group (2026)

Work in Progress

Labor Market Concentration and Job Amenities 

(with Victor Lei and Zhipeng Qi)

The Joint Dynamics of Health and Occupational Choice: A Hidden Markov Approach