{"332411":{"#nid":"332411","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Mingge Wu Receives First Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia Tech","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMingge Wu, a recent graduate from the \u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Economics\u003C\/strong\u003E, became the first doctoral candidate to receive a Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia Tech in May 2014. She now works as a senior statistician for \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ihgplc.com\/\u0022\u003EInterContinental Hotels Group\u003C\/a\u003E after receiving master\u2019s and Ph.D. degrees, both in economics, from Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBackground\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EI earned my B.S. and B.A. in Applied Math and Economics from Wuhan University in China, where I grew up. I came to Georgia Tech in 2008 to continue my study in economics as a master\u2019s student. I encountered an interesting topic in the arguments on cost benefits regarding environmental regulations, in particular how governments in developing countries balance economic growth and environmental concerns. My interest in the topic carried over into my Ph.D. work here.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWhy Economics at GT?\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEven though my undergraduate education provided me with a solid background in economic theory, I had no real clear ideas about what economic research looks like. My research interests became motivated by the coursework in the master\u2019s program I completed here at Georgia Tech, which taught me how various fields differ from and interact with each other. I then decided to pursue more as a Ph.D. student.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe Ph.D. in Economics program provided me with rich resources related to research. I had the opportunity to work with professors in math, business, public policy, industrial engineering and environmental engineering.\u0026nbsp; Few programs combine economics, engineering, and public policy into such a well-organized package. The program is small, and everyone works closely with each other, meaning professors are all very helpful and the students\u2019 voices will always be heard. I worked in particular with my advisor, Tibor Besedes, along with Usha Nair-Reichert and Eric Johnson.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMy research examined the interactions between international trade and environmental regulations motivated by the pollution haven hypothesis, which states that when seeking to set up factories abroad, large industrialized nations will often look for the cheapest option in terms of resources and labor.\u0026nbsp; This often means sending production to developing nations with less stringent environmental regulations, reducing pollution control.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EIn particular, my dissertation (available \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/smartech.gatech.edu\/bitstream\/handle\/1853\/52287\/WU-DISSERTATION-2014.pdf?sequence=1\u0022\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E) looked at how environmental regulations affect international bilateral trade flows. It showed that imports will increase for European Union Emission Trading Scheme (EU ETS) members for dirty industries while exports decrease. Additionally, membership in EU ETS changes firms\u2019 foreign direct investment decisions. According to my theoretical model, both inward and outward foreign direct investment in dirty industries decreases for EU ETS members.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ETeaching\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003ETeaching the undergraduate principle economics course was one of my greatest experiences at Georgia Tech. As a non-native English speaker, it was a challenge to teach 150 students with a diverse set of backgrounds at one time. It forced me to think about economics from an outsider\u2019s perspective.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EIvan Allen College\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EStudents in the \u003Cstrong\u003EIvan Allen College of Liberal Arts\u003C\/strong\u003E are set apart and differ from their counterparts in other liberal arts and social sciences colleges in both the technical education they receive in addition to their liberal arts studies and the high reputation of Georgia Tech as an exemplary research institution.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EMingge Wu, a recent graduate from the \u003Cstrong\u003ESchool of Economics\u003C\/strong\u003E, became the first doctoral candidate to receive a Ph.D. in Economics from Georgia Tech in May 2014. She now works as a senior statistician for \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.ihgplc.com\/\u0022\u003EInterContinental Hotels Group\u003C\/a\u003E after receiving master\u2019s and Ph.D. degrees, both in economics, from Georgia Tech.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Mingge Wu, recent graduate from the School of Economics, became the first doctoral candidate to receive a PhD in Economics from Georgia Tech in May 2014."}],"uid":"27889","created_gmt":"2014-10-08 14:53:32","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:17:15","author":"Beth Godfrey","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2014-10-13T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2014-10-13T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"332381":{"id":"332381","type":"image","title":"Mingge Wu","body":null,"created":"1449245114","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:05:14","changed":"1475895044","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:50:44","alt":"Mingge Wu","file":{"fid":"200391","name":"minggewu.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/minggewu_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/minggewu_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":901521,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/minggewu_0.jpg?itok=__Y6Svjq"}}},"media_ids":["332381"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"602","name":"economics"},{"id":"1808","name":"graduate students"},{"id":"2248","name":"Graduate Studies"},{"id":"955","name":"ivan allen college"},{"id":"105841","name":"Mingge Wu"},{"id":"3918","name":"profile"},{"id":"167037","name":"school of economics"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu\u0022\u003Erebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":[],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}