Naijia GUO
Prof. Naijia GUO
Economics
Assistant Professor

3910 3101

KK 916

Academic & Professional Qualification
  • Ph.D. in Economics, University of Pennsylvania Sep. 2009 – May. 2014
  • B.A. in Finance, Peking University Aug. 2005 – Jul. 2009
Biography

Naijia Guo is currently an assistant professor at the University of Hong Kong. She received a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 2014 and a B.A. in finance from Peking University in 2009. Her primary research fields are labor economics and family economics, and she specializes in structural labor. Naijia’s research covers a wide range of topics, including education, wages, unemployment, migration, and intra-household decisions. Her papers have been published in the International Economic Review, the Economic Journal, Quantitative Economics, the Journal of Human Resources, and the Journal of Comparative Economics.

Teaching
  • Introductory Econometrics (Undergraduate)
  • Computational Methods in Economics (Graduate)
  • Labor Economics (Graduate)
Research Interest
  • Labor Economics
  • Family Economics
Selected Publications
  • “The Effect of an Early Career Recession on Schooling and Lifetime Welfare” (International Economic Review, 2018, 59 (3), 1511-1545)
  • “Do Elite Colleges Matter? Its Impact on Entrepreneurship Decisions and Career Dynamics” (with Charles Ka Yui Leung, Quantitative Economics, 2021, 12 (4), 1347-1397)
  • “A Matching Model of Co-residence with a Family Network: Empirical Evidence from China” (with Xiaoyu Xia and Junsen Zhang, The Economic Journal, 2022, 132(648), 2873-2917)
  • “Home Location Choice and Gender Gap in Commute” (with Yizhen Gu, Jing Wu, and Ben Zou, Journal of Human Resources, 2024, 59(2), 545-575)
  • “Tutoring Efficacy, Household Substitution, and Student Achievement: Experimental Evidence from an After-School Tutoring Program in Rural China” (with Jere Behrman, Simon Fan, Xiangdong Wei, Hongliang Zhang, and Junsen Zhang, International Economic Review, 2024, 65(1), 149-189)
  • “The Short- and Long-Run Impacts of Free Education on Schooling: Direct Effects and Intra-Household Spillovers” (with Shuangxin Wang and Junsen Zhang, The Economic Journal, forthcoming.)
Awards and Honours
  • 2023-2025 Principle investigator: Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), “Life-cycle Earnings Profiles and Wage Dynamics of Chinese Workers.”
  • 2022-2025 Principle investigator: Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), “Gender Pay Gap, Residential Location Choice, and Work Location Choice.”
  • 2017-2019 Principle investigator: Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC), “The Impact of Parental Input and Child Care Input on Early Childhood Development.”
  • 2016-2018 Principle investigator: Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC) Early Career Scheme (ECS), ”What Makes a Successful Entrepreneur? A Model of Intergenerational Transfer and Education Choice.”
Service to the University/ Community

Reviewer of Journal of Political Economy, Journal of Labor Economics, International Economic Review, Quantitative Economics, American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, Journal of Human Resources, Journal of Population Economics, Health Economics, China Economic Review, Review of Economics of the Household, Pacific Economic Review, Contemporary Economic Policy.

Recent Publications
Tutoring Efficacy, Household Substitution, And Student Achievement: Experimental Evidence From An After-school Tutoring Program In Rural China

After-school tutoring has risen globally despite limited evidence of effectiveness. We implement a randomized after-school tutoring program in rural China where many children are left-behind by parents in care of grandparents. Compared to tutees cared for by parents, those in care of grandparents reported much smaller home-tutoring reductions but larger test-score gains. We interpret our data analysis with a model with tutoring efficacy and substitution between private and public inputs both differing by family background: Increased public tutoring generates larger test-score gains for children who experience greater tutoring efficacy and lesser substitution with household inputs, consistent with our estimates.