My name is Yao Chen, and I am an associate professor in the Economics department at Erasmus School of Economics. I moved to Rotterdam about seven years ago after completing my PhD in Germany. While I was studying, I already spent an exchange semester at Rotterdam School of Management (RSM). Since then, the city has improved in so many ways.
Encouraging curiosity
As a child, I wanted to be an astrophysicist, or perhaps even an astronaut. I was fascinated by everything to do with space: galaxies, stars, and planets. My parents encouraged my curiosity, by buying me books on physics and astrophysics. That early fascination shaped my broader interest in complex systems, later also including the economic system.
I did not originally plan to study economics. At first, I considered physics, but I eventually chose business administration in Germany. During my bachelor’s and master’s studies, I attended a seminar on international macroeconomics and found the discussions genuinely exciting. That was the moment, so to speak, when my interest in economics commenced.
After finishing my master’s degree, I worked in the private sector for a few years as a consultant. However, I quickly realised I missed the freedom, as well as the intellectual challenge that comes with academia. In the private sector, you rarely have the luxury of thinking deeply about a topic for months at a time.
How arts can border on academics
People around me know I am good at drawing. At one point, I even considered becoming an architect because of it. These days, I enjoy painting with watercolours, especially landscapes and flowers.
I am also, admittedly, quite a nerd. My favourite TV character is Data from Star Trek: The Next Generation. If you have not seen it, I would highly recommend it. Data is an android: highly intelligent, deeply logical, and genuinely curious about humanity. In a way, he reflects how economists try to think, rationally and structurally, searching for patterns, asking questions, and trying to make sense of human behaviour.
I also love the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His compositions have a beautiful complexity that feels almost mathematical. That combination appeals to me, both personally and academically.
‘Economics is everywhere: when you plan a holiday with friends or shop in the supermarket’
Intersection of human behaviour and patterns in data
For me, economics is about understanding how human behaviour translates into patterns we observe in data. I am particularly interested in these patterns at the aggregate level, which is why I work as a macroeconomist and focus on the bigger picture. More recently, I have been thinking about the effects of fiscal policy on productivity growth, particularly in the European Union. In my work, I use mathematical models to provide structure and ensure that arguments are coherent and consistent. I then analyse those models to understand mechanisms and trade-offs. This makes economics rigorous and formal. At the same time, because economics is a social science concerned with human behaviour and institutions, it cannot be reduced to mathematics alone.
Economics inside and outside the classroom
I really enjoy discussions with students, because they challenge me and often offer new ways of thinking about familiar topics.
Economics is not just the numbers and equations you see on lecture slides or in textbooks. Economics is everywhere: when you plan a holiday with friends, shop in the supermarket, or make choices about your future career. It is worth taking the time to connect what you learn in class with what you encounter outside the classroom and with what you read in the news. Doing so makes your studies feel more relevant and, in my experience, far more interesting.
- Associate professor
