Soohyung Lee is currently a faculty member in the Graduate School of International Studies at Seoul National University (SNU).
Dr. Lee is an economist, specializing in data-based research topics that examine the determinants of the efficiency of individuals and the market as a whole. Her fields of research lie at the intersection of Econometrics, Labor, Public, Development, and Market Design.
Her research is well recognized in the communities of economists, policymakers, and the news media. She has received various awards, including the Korean American Economic Association’s Young Economist Award (2016), the ChosunBiz’s nomination at “Prominent Korean Economists Under 50” (2016), the Hankyung’s Dasan Young Economist Award (2017), and the Korean Economic Association’s Award for Applied Microeconomists (2020). She has advised international organizations (e.g., World Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank), Korean government agencies (e.g., Ministry of Finance, Financial Services Commission), and private institutes (e.g., Naver.com, CSES). Dr. Lee’s research and interviews have been featured in well-renowned news sources such as Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Slate, Joongang, Chosun, Donga, Hankook, Maekyung, Hankyung, Yeonhap, KBS and MBC.
Prior to her appointment at SNU, she was a faculty member in the Economics Department at University of Maryland, College Park and Sogang University, a research fellow at Harvard Business School, and a visiting professor at Hitotsubashi University and Waseda University. She received her PhD from Stanford University and her BA from Seoul National University. Before starting her PhD studies, Dr. Lee served as a Deputy Director in Korea’s Ministry of Finance.
April 2024 – present
Monetary Policy Board Member, Bank of Korea
Mar. 2020 – present
Associate & Full Professor, Graduate School of International Studies (GSIS) Seoul National University
(Sabbatical: September 2023 – August 2024)
Dec. 2020 – Dec. 2026
Member of the Executive Board, Asian & Australian Society for Labour Economics (AASLE), elected in 2020 and 2023
Apr. 2017 – present
Research Fellow, Global Labor Organization
Sep. 2015 – present
Research Fellow, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA, Germany)
2008
Ph.D. in Economics, Stanford University.
Thesis Title: Essays on Household Formation and Income Inequality
Thesis committee: Peter Klenow(Chair), Luigi Pistaferri(Co-chair), John Pencavel, Michèle Tertilt
2006
M.A. in Economics, Stanford University
1998
B.A. in Economics, Seoul National University (Summa Cum Laude)
Applied Econometrics specialized in Labor, Public, Development, and Market Design
[Publications]
- Does the Nuclear Engineering Field Perform Worse in Utilizing Women? Evidence from South Korea (with Jihye Kam and Sungyeol Choi), Nuclear Engineering and Technology, forthcoming
- Female representation in academia: Are women underrepresented among faculty at public colleges and universities? (with Jihye Kam), International Economic Journal, 2024, 38(2), 185-211
- Cayman over China: Trends and Accounting Factors of South Korea’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment (with Kyung Hyun Kim), International Economic Journal, 2023, 37(3), 424-445
- Sejong’s Effects of People’s Health: Consequences of a Long Commute (with Seulgi Lim) Asian Economic Papers, 2023, 22(2), 1-27 (lead article)
- Signaling in Two-Sided Matching Markets in “Online and Matching-Based Market Design” edited by Federico Echenique, Nochole Immorlica, and Vijay V. Vazirani, Cambridge University Press, 2023, ISBN: 978-1108831994
- The Effects of Indoor Temperature and Humidity on Local Transmission of COVID-19 and How It Relates to Global Trends (with Han June Park, Sung-Gwang Lee, Jeong Suk Oh, Minhyuk Nam, Steven Barrett, and Wontae Hwang), PLOS ONE, 2022, 17(8), e0271760
- Foreign Direct Investment and Housing Prices: Evidence from South Korea (with Joohee Kim), International Economic Journal, 36(2), 247-262
- Consumption Response to Seoul’s COVID-19 Shopping Coupons: Evidence from Consumer Data (with Seokjin Woo, Dohyung Kim, Heyjin Moon, Sangmin Yum), Korean Economic Review, 2022, 38(2), 231-250
- Recent Trends in Public and Private Debts: Cross Country Comparison (with Eujin Lee), Korean Social Science Journal, 2021, 48, 119-141
- Gender Norm Conflict and Marital Outcomes (with Francisca M. Antman and Priti Kalsi), Journal of Demographic Economics, 2021, 87, 537-560
- How to Improve Worker-Firm Matching: Evidence from a Temporary Foreign Worker Market (with Yoonyoung Cho), Korean Economic Review, 2021, 37(2), 419-454
- How Do House Prices Affect Consumption Patterns across Categories?,
(with Wonhyeok Kim and Yoonsoo Lee), Korean Economic Review, 2021, 37(2), 367-398 - Can Stimulus Checks Boost an Economy under Covid-19? Evidence from South Korea, (with Moon Jung Kim), International Economic Journal, 2021, 35(1), 1-12
- COVID-19 and Employment in South Korea: Trends and Comparison with the 2008 Financial Crisis (with Minhyuk Nam), Seoul Journal of Economics, 2021, 34(1), 43-80
- Does Ramadan Harm Infant Health? Evidence from Ethiopia (with Minhyuk Nam, Daeun Jeong, Wonmoon Lee), International Economic Journal, 2020, 34(4), 613-633
- Collaboration and Female Representation in Academic Fields (with Benjamin Malin), Minneapolis Fed: Quarterly Review, 2019, 39(1), 2-21
- Efficient Supply of Human Capital: Role of College Major (with Sungjin Cho and Jihye Kam), Singapore Economic Review, 2018, 63(5), 1319-1343
- Girls and Boys: Economic Crisis, Fertility and Birth Outcomes (with Chiara Orsini), Journal of Applied Econometrics, 2018, 33(7), 1044-1063
- Impact of the Clean Air Act on Air Pollution and Infant Health: Evidence from South Korea (with Minhyuk Nam and Heesun Yoo), Economics Letters, 2018, 168, 98-101
- College Major and Female Labor Supply (with Jihye Kam), “Strategic, Policy and Social Innovation for a Post-Industrial Korea,” edited by Joon Nak Choi, Yong Suk Lee, and Gi-Wook Shin, Routledge, Ch.6, 2018
- Did the Great Recession Affect Sex Ratios at Birth for Groups with a Son Preference? (with Chiara Orsini), Economics Letters, 2017, 154, 48-50
- Brides for Sale: Cross-Border Marriages and Female Immigration (with Daiji Kawaguchi), Economic Inquiry, 2017, 55(2), 633-654 (lead article)
- Effect of Online Dating on Assortative Mating: Evidence from South Korea, Journal of Applied Econometrics, 2016, 31(6), 1120-1139
- Carrot and Stick? : Impact of a Low-Stakes School Accountability Program on Student Achievement (with Seokjin Woo and Kyunghee Kim), Economics Letters, 2015, 137, 195-199
- Propose with a Rose? Signaling in Internet Dating Markets (with Muriel Niederle), Experimental Economics, 2015, 18(4), 731-755
- Beauty Pays but Does Investment in Beauty?, IZA World of Labor, October 2015
- Bonus Compensation and Productivity: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Plant-Level Data (with Natalie Chun), Journal of Productivity Analysis, February 2015, 43(1), 47-58
- Do Single-Sex Schools Make Girls More Competitive? (with Muriel Niederle and Namwook Kang), Economics Letters, September 2014, 124(3), 474-477
- All for One? Family Size and Children’s Educational Distribution Under Credit Constraints (with Jeanne Lafortune), American Economic Review, P&P, May 2014, 104(5), 365-369
- Overeducation in the Korean Labor Market : Evidence from Young Workers (with Sungjin Cho) Journal of Economic Research, May 2014, 19-41
- Multiple Testing and Heterogeneous Treatment Effects: Re-evaluating the Effect of Progresa on School Enrollment (with Azeem Shaikh), Journal of Applied Econometrics, June/July 2014, 29(4), 612-626
- Can the Job Market for Economists be Improved? (with Fedor Iskhakov, Terence Johnson, David McArthur, John Rust, and Joel Watson), Handbook of Market Design, edited by Zvika Neeman, Alvin Roth, and Nir Vulkan, Oxford Press, July 2013, ISBN-13: 978-0199570515
- Education’s Role in China’s Structural Transformation (with Benjamin Malin), Journal of Development Economics, March 2013, 148-166
- Plastic Surgery: Investment in Human Capital or Consumption? (with Keunkwan Ryu), Journal of Human Capital, September 2012, 224-250
- Self-Control and Provision of Education Subsidies, Journal of Economic Research, May 2012, 61-76
[Published Papers in Korean]
- Foreign Acquisition of Real Estates: Trends and Implications (with Seulgi Lim, and Joohee Kim), The Korean Journal of Law and Economics, 2022, April, 177-205
- How Does Public Housing Affect Neighboring Apartment Prices and Migration? (with Seulgi Lim, and Hyunji Lee), The Korean Journal of Economic Studies, 2021,151-184
- Implications of AI for the Korean Labor Market, Chapter 2, AI Ethics and Governance, 2021 Public Housing Subsidies in South Korea (with Seulgi Lim), Journal of Market Economy, 2020, 49(2), 1-26
- Public Housing Subsidies in South Korea (with Seulgi Lim), Journal of Market Economy, 2020, 49(2), 1-26
- Economic and Regulatory Implications of New Business Models in the ICT Sector, Korean Journal of Law and Economics, 2020, 17(1), 253-279
- Dynamics and Determinants of the Gender Gap in Math Test Scores (with Seulgi Lim), The Journal of Curriculum and Evaluation, 2019, 22(2), 293-317
- Impact of Ordinal Rank on Career Choice (with Seulgi Lim), Korean Journal of Labour Economics, 2017, 40(2), 1-29
[Book]
“To Parents in South Korea,” parental guidebook regarding college application, human capital, and career development, written in Korean, Gimmyoung, June 2023