th559[at]cantab.ac.uk
(44) 7938 047121
TACYE HONG
I am currently an Economist at Oxford Economics. I hold a PhD in Economics from the University of Cambridge, with my research focusing on the role of trade policy uncertainty on the macroeconomy, with a specific interest in multinational firms. I also study the transmission of uncertainty through domestic and international linkages.
I have experience working at the Bank of England (BoE), Barclays' macro research team, and a Teaching Fellow at the University of Cambridge.
Referees:
Professor Giancarlo Corsetti (gc422[at]cam.ac.uk)
Professor Paul Kattuman (p.kattuman[at]jbs.cam.ac.uk)
CURRICULUM VITAE
My full CV is available here [link].
Short CV below
Education:
PhD in Economics, University of Cambridge (2019 - 2023)
MPhil in Economic Research, University of Cambridge (2018 - 2019)
Honours Bachelor in Science (GPA: 3.9/4.0), Financial Economics Specialist; Actuarial Science Major; Mathematics Minor, University of Toronto (2014 - 2018)
Research Interests:
Macroeconomics, International Trade, Uncertainty
Working Paper:
The Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty on Exporters and Multinational Firms
The Volatility of Economic Policy Uncertainty (with Paul Kattuman)
Revisiting the Trade Policy Uncertainty Index
Work Experience
Economist, Oxford Economics, Economic Impact team (Sep 2023 - Present)
Barclays PhD Internship, Euro Area Macro Research (Sep 2022 - Dec 2022)
Bank of England PhD Internship, Structural Economics Division (Jun 2021 - Mar 2022)
Teaching Experience:
IIB (3rd Year) Macroeconomics Supervisions, University of Cambridge (2020 - 2022)
MPhil Mathematics and Statistics Prep Course Lecture, University of Cambridge (2021-2024)
Stata Course, University of Cambridge (2020 - 2022)
MPhil Dissertation Workshop (2020 - 2022)
Awards and Scholarships:
Faculty Prize for the Best Undergraduate Teaching Fellow (2021)
Cambridge Trust & King's College Scholarship, University of Cambridge (2019)
University of St. Michael's College Graduation Silver Award, University of Toronto (2018)
University of St. Michael's College In-Course Scholarship, University of Toronto x2 (2016 & 2017)
University of Toronto Dean's List x4 (2015 - 2018)
C.L. Burton In-Course Scholarship, University of Toronto (2015)
Computational Skills:
Microsoft Office, LaTeX, MATLAB & Dynare, Stata, R, Python, QGIS, SQL
Language:
Native: English & Chinese (Cantonese); Intermediate: Japanese & Mandarin
RESEARCH
PHD THESIS
The full PhD thesis can be viewed here.
The first paper, “Improving the Trade Policy Uncertainty Index”, studies how best to measure trade policy uncertainty. I show that Baker et al.’s (2016) and Caldara et al.’s (2020) newspaper-based Trade Policy Uncertainty (TPU) indices misclassify and omit a substantial number of
articles. I use a new set of search terms to construct an improved TPU index for the U.S. from 1987 to 2023 and provide a detailed mapping between major trade policy events in the U.S. and the new index.
The second paper, “The Effects of Trade Policy Uncertainty on Exporters and Multinational Firms”, is a theoretical paper examining the effects of trade policy uncertainty on the entry and exit of exporters and multinational enterprises (MNEs) in foreign markets. In this paper, I use a two-country DSGE model, where export and MNE continuation costs are lower than entry costs, to analyse the macroeconomic effects of a shock to trade policy uncertainty.
In the third paper, “Panic at the Costco: Buffer Stock under Uncertainty”, I build a Small Open Economy model where a distributor keeps buffer stock inventories for the household and producers, and inventory is driven by a preference shifter that depends on the available stock `a la Gortz et al. (2022).
The fourth paper, “The Volatility of Economic Policy Uncertainty”, is joint work with Prof. Paul Kattuman, where we analyze the volatility of uncertainty, measured using Baker et al.’s (2016) newspaper-based Economic Policy Uncertainty index, in a T-GARCH framework. We then examine the spillovers in both the level and volatility of economic policy uncertainty across countries from 1997 to 2023.
TEACHING
UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
Teaching Fellow for Part IIB (Year 3) Paper 2 Macroeconomics (2020 - 2022)
Small group supervisions for the compulsory 3rd year Macroeconomics course. Approx. 150 students.
Faculty Prize for the Best Undergraduate Teaching Fellow.
Lecturer for the MPhil Mathematics and Statistics Prep Course - Linear Algebra (2021 - 2024)
Delivered to all MPhil students. Approx. 200 students.
Stata Course (2020 - 2022)
Delivered to all students in the Faculty of Economics from 1st Year Undergraduates to all MPhil students, from beginners to advanced level. Approx. 600 students.
Provided Stata support for dissertations.
An Introduction to LaTeX (2021 - 2024)
Delivered to MPhil students. Approx. 150 students.
Link to the lecture note for current students: [link]
Dissertation Workshop Lecture Course (2020 - 2022)
Delivered to all masters students at the Faculty of Economics. Approx 100 students.
Teaching Assistant for the MAcc Statistics Course (2019 - 2023)
Jointly designed and delivered to all Master in Accounting students at the Cambridge Judge Business School.
Economics Taster Sessions
Delivered various taster sessions to prospective students for the University of Cambridge HE+ (2020) and the LPN Summer School (2019, 2020, 2021).
OTHERS
Instructor, INSTEP-Wake Forest University (2023, 2024)
Instructor for the Global Trade and Commerce course
Program Assistant for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth - Hong Kong site (2018)
Peer Mentor at the University of Toronto (2018)
For the STA130 - An Introduction to Statistical Reasoning and Data Science.