PRACTICING ECONOMICS VIA ZEN
COLIN XU
MARCH 4, 2021

View the webinar here.
(Also accessible here on YouTube.)

Feeling stressed about your research? Wondering how to cope with the perils of the publication process? Having issues with co-authors? To help you navigate a difficult process in troubling times, Colin Xu shares his philosophy for dealing with challenges, working with yourself as well as with co-authors, and generally coping with the inevitable stresses, disappointments, and rewards of research.

Life can be tough for young economists. The principles of Zen can be valuable as you seek the path you are choosing for your career, move along that path, and try to sustain your drive on the long journey. Colin Xu offers inspiration from the insights of Lao Tsu and the work of great contemporary economists. He examines resilience, learning by practice, teamwork, building confidence, and finding flow. Mary Shirley chairs the program; Alexandra Benham and Lee Benham curate the Q&A session.

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  Colin Xu

About the Speaker
Colin Xu is a Lead Economist in the Development Research Group of the World Bank and a frequent faculty member for Coase Institute workshops. After studying at Peking University and the University of Chicago, he joined the Research Group of the World Bank in 1996. His research has focused on applied microeconomic topics such as development, conflicts, economic history, corporate governance, governance and institutions, political economy, cultural change, and Chinese economy in transition.

His work has been published in the American Economic Review, Review of Economics and Statistics, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Public Economics, Journal of Labor Economics, Journal of Law and Economics, Journal of Development Economics, Journal of Comparative Economics, and more. He has worked with co-authors from around the world, collecting data and doing field research on a variety of economic puzzles in many different countries. His papers are widely cited in the area of development, transition, and China.