Yiwei ZhangAssistant Professor of Consumer Science

I am an applied microeconomist who studies empirical questions in household finance. My research lies at the intersection of economics and psychology, with a particular interest in understanding how consumers make financial decisions and how such decisions affect well-being and market outcomes. My research also explores how the financial decisions of households may be unintentionally influenced by features of the institutional environment that surrounds them.

Prior to joining UW–Madison, I was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. I also previously worked as an economist in the Office of Research at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Read my research profile

Selected Publications

Zhang, C. Y., Hemmeter, J., Kessler, J. B., Metcalfe, R. D., & Weathers, R. (2023). Nudging Timely Wage Reporting: Field Experimental Evidence from the United States Supplemental Security Income Program. Management Science, 69(3), 1341-1353. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2022.4645

Zhang, C. Y., Sussman, A. B., Wang-Ly, N., & Lyu, J. K. (2022). How Consumers Budget. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 204(December 2022), 69-88. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jebo.2022.09.025

Kessler, J. B., Milkman, K. L., & Zhang, C. Y. (2019). Getting the Rich and Powerful to Give. Management Science, 65(9), 3949-4450. https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2018.3142

For a full list of publications, see Zhang’s CV.