Yang Zhong

I am a PhD candidate in Economics at the University of Amsterdam. I am interested in experimental, behavioral, and empirical microeconomics. My advisors are Thomas Buser and Hessel Oosterbeek.

My research uses experimental and empirical methods to study challenges individuals face in professional and educational settings. I develop methods to measure preferences for facing these challenges, as well as the ability to handle them, and validate these methods using both experimental and survey data.

I am on the 2024-2025 academic job market.

You can reach me at: y.zhong@uva.nl

Placement director:
Eric Bartelsman (Tinbergen Institute):
e.j.bartelsman@tinbergen.nl

Placement assistant:
Christina Månsson (Tinbergen Institute):
c.mansson@tinbergen.nl

Job Market Paper

Working Under Distractions

Abstract: Distractions are pervasive in today’s workplaces, from noisy open-plan offices to digital interruptions. Using an incentivized laboratory experiment, I study the effects of distractions on performance and mental well-being, elicit willingness to pay to avoid distractions, and validate questionnaire items on resilience in working under distractions. I then incorporate these validated items in a representative Dutch survey panel. I obtain four main results. First, despite having little impact on performance in the lab, distractions are detrimental to individuals' self-reported mental well-being while working. Second, many individuals are willing to pay to eliminate distractions, and this willingness to pay is negatively correlated with the change in mental well-being. Third, individual heterogeneity in the impact of distractions on mental well-being can be captured by questionnaire items. Fourth, resilience to distractions strongly predicts income and job satisfaction in the representative survey data, even conditional on education, sector, and other personality traits.

Publications

Time Pressure Preferences

Accepted at Management Science, with Thomas Buser and Roel van Veldhuizen

[Abstract] [Link]

Many professional and educational settings require individuals to be willing and able to perform under time pressure. We use a lab experiment to elicit preferences for working under time pressure in an incentivized way by eliciting the minimum additional payment participants require to complete a cognitive task under various levels of time pressure versus completing it without pressure. We make three main contributions. First, we document that participants are averse to working under time pressure on aggregate. Second, we show that there is substantial heterogeneity in the degree of time pressure aversion across individuals and that these individual preferences can be partially captured by simple survey questions. Third, we elicit these questions in a survey of bachelor students and show that time pressure preferences correlate with future career plans. Our results indicate that individual differences in time pressure aversion could be an influential factor in determining labor market outcomes.

Yang Zhong

Job Market Paper

Working Under Distractions

Publications

Time Pressure Preferences