Fanyu Wang

Fanyu Wang

she/her

PhD Student in Sustainable Development

Fanyu Wang

I am a fourth-year PhD student in Sustainable Development at Columbia University. I am an applied microeconomist in training, specializing in environmental and energy economics and field experiments. My current research examines water pollution and energy infrastructure, with a particular focus on how households respond to environmental risks and how to design effective interventions to reduce exposure. I also study how energy systems can be upgraded to better withstand extreme weather events and accommodate rising demand.

Prior to joining Columbia University, I worked at the China Center of the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago. I hold a master’s degree in Environmental Policy from Duke University and bachelor’s degrees in Mathematical Economics and Public Administration from Xiamen University.

Email me at fanyu.wang[at]columbia[dot]edu. Check out my CV here.

Working Papers

  • The Environmental Impact of Ultra-High Voltage Transmission: Evidence from China (Draft available on request)
    with Guojun He and Da Huang
    Abstract

    Over the past two decades, China has made substantial investments in the Ultra-High Voltage (UHV) transmission network to address energy mismatch by harnessing energy resources from the western and northern areas. However, the development of UHV transmission has been subject to significant controversy due to its high costs and uncertain returns. This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of the impacts of UHV connectivity on local electricity generation, emissions, and ambient air quality. We find that connecting to the UHV network leads to a 5.68 μg/m³ reduction in ambient SO₂ concentration in recipient cities, representing a 33.3% decline, with no significant impact on SO₂ levels in source cities. This suggests an overall reduction in population exposure to SO₂ pollution. The primary mechanism driving this effect is the decline in new coal power investments—UHV connection leads to a 49% reduction in new coal plant entries and a 47% decline in new coal plant capacity in recipient cities. However, our analysis of plant-level emissions reveals no significant impact on the operational intensity of existing coal plants, indicating that SO₂ reductions are driven primarily by the deterrence of new coal infrastructure rather than changes in existing plant operations.

Work in Progress

  • How Public Information Disclosure Shapes Household Demand for Water Lead Mitigation and Exposure Assessment (Draft available soon)
    with Siyuan Hu
    • Funding: CEEP Student Research Grants, 2024 & 2025 (Columbia University), CELSS Graduate Student Experimental Project Grant, 2025 (Columbia University), ​AAE Department Research Awards, 2024 & 2025 (UW-Madison).
    • Presented at: CU SDEV Colloquium (2025-12), Social Cost of Water Pollution Workshop (2025-09), CU IPWSD (2025-04), CU SDEV Colloquium (2025-02).
    Abstract

    We conduct the first economic study of how individualized disclosure of water service line (LSL) material---mandated by the 2021 Lead and Copper Rule Revision---affects households’ beliefs about lead exposure and demand for mitigation and exposure assessment. We run a pre-registered field experiment in five U.S. cities (Detroit, Indianapolis, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, New York City) involving around 2,000 households. Using a two-step geospatial workflow, we screen panelists to include only homes with known LSL status. Within each city, we randomly assign respondents to: (1) a control message describing service-line records or (2) a treatment that additionally discloses their building-specific LSL status. Before and after disclosure, we elicit beliefs and willingness to pay (WTP) for defensive mechanisms: 1) a pitcher filter, and 2) a laboratory inspection of tap-water lead, using an incentive-compatible Becker–DeGroot–Marschak mechanism. We are not aware of prior economics work that couples individualized disclosure about lead service lines with incentive-compatible stated-preference elicitation, allowing us to directly evaluate the effectiveness of the new federal information mandate and to characterize theoretically and empirically how households adjust beliefs and defensive investments in response to personalized lead-risk information.

  • The Impacts of the Pause of Air Quality Reporting at US Embassies/Consulates (Draft available soon)
    with Douglas Almond, Allen Huang, and Zoey Yiyuan Zhou

  • Encouraging Participation in Lead Service Line Replacement in Disadvantaged Communities
    with Siyuan Hu and Robert Metcalfe
    • Funding: U.S. State and Local Innovation Initiative Pilot Grant, 2025 (J-PAL), ISERP Seed Grant, 2025 (Columbia University).

  • The Labor Market Impacts of AI Capability and Reliability
    with Junho Choi

  • The Environmental Impacts of Data Centers
    with Junho Choi

Teaching

Columbia University — Teaching Assistant

  • Introduction to Econometrics — Fall 2025
  • Econometrics II (Master’s) — Spring 2025
  • Econometrics I (Master’s) — Fall 2024
  • Challenges of Sustainable Development — Spring 2024
  • Economics of Uncertainty and Information — Fall 2023