Yifan Shen, an MPhil graduate from this Department, will publish a single-authored paper “The Nonlinear Linkage between Earnings Homogamy and Earnings Inequality between Married Couples” in Demography–the premier journal for population research [see note below]. Congratulations to Yifan for turning his master thesis into an outstanding research contribution!

Yifan started this project in 2014, his first year at CUHK. His advisor Professor Tony Tam suggested him to try this topic to learn how to do research. He finished the first draft in 2016 which ended up being his MPhil thesis. It was not until two years later (2018), during his second year of PhD at Brown University, that he restarted to work on this paper.

Looking back, he recognizes how crucial the two years he spent at CUHK was to the project as it was during those years that he got the financial and intellectual support to immerse himself in the literature and develop a deep understanding of the question. As he savors the fruitful outcome from this long-running project, he encourages fellow graduate students at CUHK to stay focused and persevere in their intellectual endeavors: “At the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”

The Department is really proud of Yifan, not only for his remarkable publication but also for setting an example that speaks loud and clear on the virtue of perseverance in graduate training towards a scholarly career.

Note:

Earnings inequality between couples has been rising in many countries. Yifan’s new paper shows that in both urban China and the United States income homogamy increased over time. Most importantly, the increase in income homogamy between the top 20% of husbands and their wives has played a major role in lifting the overall inequality between couples.